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REPORT 









AGENT AND KEEPER 



STATE PRISON 



AT AUBURN. 



MADE TO THE LEGISLATURE, JAN. 7, 1828. 



ALBANY : 

HU.NTED BY CROSWELL AM) VAN BENTHUYSEIf. 

1628. 



S l ATE OF NEW-YORK, 

In Jlsscmbly, Jan. 7, 1828* 
Resolced, (if the senate concur herein,) That the 
papers accompanying the report of the agent and 
keeper of the state prison at Auburn, be printed in 
a pamphlet form, for the use of the members of the 
legislature ; that 750 copies be printed, in addition to 
the usual number, and that they be delivered to the 
following officers to be disposed of as they shall think 
useful, viz. 100 copies to the governor, 100 to the 
secretary of state, 100 to the commissioners ap- 
pointed to superintend the erection of the state pri- 
son at Mount Pleasant, and the residue to the in- 
spectors of the state prison at Auburn. 
By order. 

F. SEGER, Clerk. 

In Senate, Jan. 7. 1828. 
Resolved, That the senate do concur with the as^ 
sembly in their said resolution. 

By order. 
JOHN F. BACON, Clerk. 



REPORT. 






To tue Honorable the "Legislature of t\\e 
State of Xew-\oTk. 

The report of Gershom Powers, agent and keeper 
of the state prison at Auburn, 
Respectfully sheweth: 

That said prison has, for some time past, attracted 
much public attention ; and a solicitude to obtain in- 
formation in relation to it, is rapidly increasing. 
Many distinguished individuals, from various parts of 
the United States, as well as from Europe, are al- 
most daily calling to examine, personally, its ma- 
nagement, and the peculiarities of its construction 
and discipline. They invariably appear highly gra- 
tified, and almost as uniformly solicit prison reports 
or pamphlets, from which they can learn, at leisure, 
and in detail, the whole concerns of » an institution, 
which strikes them so favorably on a general exami- 
nation. It has been a subject of regret, that the de- 
sired information could not be given in the form re- 
quested. Much of it was only to be found scattered 
through the journals of the legislature, and much, in 
regard to police and discipline, existed only in prac- 
tice, and had never been reduced to writing. Such, 
indeed, must always be more or less the case, as ex- 
perience may or may not suggest improvements ; and 
also, because all the mimttia of proceedings would 
be too voluminous. 



These facts seemed to require, that the main 
principles and general practice of this institution 
should be presented in a pamphlet form, suitable for 
general circulation. Besides, such a compilation 
had become important as a manual, for the use of 
our own prison officers, and especially those who 
might be newly appointed. 

In addition to this, the agent received a letter from 
Governor Clinton, in behalf of one of the states, re- 
questing a full account of this institution. About the 
same time, Messrs. King and Wharton of Philadel- 
phia, and Judge Shaler of Pittsburg, commissioners 
appointed by the legislature of Pennsylvania to re- 
vise the criminal code of that state, made a visit to 
this prison ; and not being able, during that visit, to 
collect all the facts they desired, sent, after their re- 
turn home, a series of interrogatories to the agent, 
of similar import, but more extensive than those of 
Governor Clinton. 

Other letters, of like import, were received from 
gentlemen in different parts, and among them one 
from Ohio, and one from the Hon. Edward Living- 
ston of Louisiana. 

These considerations induced the undersigned 
last year to compile and publish, at his own expense, 
a pamphlet, embracing the above objects ; the edi- 
tion of one thousand of which is now exhausted, 
while the demands for information are greatly in- 
creasing. 

The undersigned has revised and condensed that 
pamphlet, and added thereto many valuable facts, 
which another year's observation and experience 
have discovered ; and the whole is now respectfully 



submitted to the consideration and disposal of the 
honorable the legislature. 

Should the legislature deem the work worthy of 
being printed, and in a pamphlet form, the under- 
signed i an furnish a number of engravings, which 
will illustrate the description of this and the Phila- 
delphia prison. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

G. POWERS 

Slate Prison, Juktrrh Jan. 1. 1828, 



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\ i,ni:i! vi. m s( iu»»tion 

OF THE 

AUBURN PRISON 



This prison was commenced in 1810, and is con 
;tructed upon the plan of a hollow square, enclosed 
by a wall 2000 feet in extent, being 500 feet on each 
side. A ground view is exhibited by the accompa- 
nying plate, and is explained as follows : 

The exterior line represents the wall, which en- 
(loses the whole prison ground and buildings. 

a, is the eastern front gate. 

\, the front yard, about 60 feet square. 

The centre building, or keeper's dwelling, is di- 
rectly in rear of, and of the same width, as the front 
\ at d, and extends back to the open space between 
the wings. 

c, is the clerk's office, and r, an adjoining apart- 
ment. 

e, is the keeper's and inspector's office, and s, an 
adjoining apartment. 

n, is the main hall, passing through the centre, 
from the front door back to the keeper's hall. 

m, is the keeper's hall. 

ii, in rear of the dotted line, is an open space, be- 
tween the keeper's hall and the rear of the building, 
and affords pass-ways from the main building into 
each of the wings. 

The dotted line, in rear of the keeper's hall, is a 
strong wooden grating, from the floor to the story 
next above ; a door, passing through the centre of 
which ; i< ahvavs tended by one of the guard. 
2 



10 

w, is the back stoop, which overlooks the whole 
interior yard. 

The front part of the basement story of this build- 
ing contains a kitchen, store-rooms and pantries, for 
the keeper's use. The rear part of this story is the 
wash-room for the convicts. 

The story next above is the one represented in 
the plate, and has been already described. 

The two remaining stories are occupied by the 
keeper's family, and afford convenient rooms, of va- 
rious descriptions, for their use. From the win- 
dows of these two stories, there is a very pleasant 
prospect of the village and surrounding country. 

This building is about 60 feet wide, and of about 
the same height, to the top of the battlements, and 
projects from the wings, in front, 25 feet. 

The cost of this building was from 40 to 50 thou- 
sand dollars. 

The front of the prison, including this building, is 
about 300 feet, and each wing extends back 240 feet. 

B, is a fruit-yard and green, of about 100 feet bv 
90. 

G, the garden. 

C, the north front yard. 

u, the guard-house ; the lower story of which is 
used as a stable and engine house, and the upper, 
which is on a level with the top of the well, is occu- 
pied by the guard. 

D, is the south front yard. 

E, the north rear yard. 

F, the south rear yard. 

Y, the space between the wings, which is a grass- 
plat, with gravel walks, represented by the double 
dotted lines. 

y, the interior yard, covered with gravel. Be- 
tween this and the grass-plat, there is an offset of 
two or three feet, made of stone, surmounted by a 
wooden railing, except at the steps. Over the cen- 
tre steps is hung the yard bell, 



11 

s. s, reservoirs of water, 8 feet doep. One is 15£ 
feet by 48, and the other, is feet in diameter. Thej 
communicate with each other. 

\. \, the hall in front of the large cells in the south 
wing, which was tirst built and constructed on the 

old j'lan, and is not now used tor the confinement of 

convicts. 

z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z, the open area between the 
external wall oi the north wing, and the breast-work 
of solitary cells, extending through the centre, in 
which the convicts are now confined at night. 

1. The new shop, built the past season, in the 
north rear yard, and is occupied by the rough or bar- 
rel coopers. Its length, 236 feet. 

•2. The shop occupied by the line coopers, or such 
as manufacture painted ware, such as pails, tubs, 
keelers, &.c. &,c. 

3. 3. The shop occupied by the manufacturers of 
joiner's tools. 

4. The shoe shop. 

5. Tailor's shop. 

6. Weaver's shop, 
o. Dye house. 

v. The vault, which is thoroughly cleansed at 
any time, by opening the gates of the reservoirs. By 
this process, all the filth is swept through a grated 
passage, beneath the external wall, into the creek, 
which runs at the foot of it. 

7. The blacksmith's and machine shop. 

8. Turner's and chairmaker's shop. 

In the two last mentioned shops, water power is 
used. 

9 and 10. Shops to be built the ensuing season. 

It will be observed, that in the plate, the external 
wall in the rear of all the shops is denoted by a dou- 
ble line. The space between these two lines is an 
avenue in rear of all the shops, which serves as a 
pass-way. This pass-way is made sufficiently light 
by numerous small orifices, cut in the partition ; and is 
designed to enable the keepers to inspect the con- 



12 

victs in the shops without their knowledge, and also 
for visiters to pass through without going into the 
shops. Every thing in the shops can be distinctly 
seen through the orifices, which are mostly covered 
with glass, while the convicts are not aware that any 
one is looking at them, and, of course, have not their 
attention called off from their work, nor their curi^ 
esity excited, as will, necessarily, be more or less 
the case, where visiters are taken through the shops. 
This improvement, which is esteemed a very valua- 
ble one, has been introduced during the past year. 

The small dotted arches, in different parts of the 
plate, point out the large gates, which close the 
pass-ways through the walls in various places. 

The shops are well lighted by windows in the 
sides. There is also a jog in about the centre of the 
roof for a single tier of lights, but flat sky-lights are 
also necessary in most of the shops. They are 
built of brick ; and as a security against the pro- 
gress of fire, there is a brick partition wall between 
them, extending above the roofs. 

These shops form a connected range of about 
1150 feet; and when those which are contemplated 
to be built the next season shall be completed, the 
whole extent of shops will be very near 1600 feet. 

The outer walls, against which the shops are 
built, are 35 feet high on the inside, and the other 
walls about 20. They are four feet thick, and he 
walls of the prison about three. But no adequate 
description of this grand and expensive pile of build- 
ings and walls can be given, without the aid of 
drawings. 

The expense of the whole, without including the 
labor of convicts employed, after preparation was 
made to receive them, was above $300,000 ; only 
$50,000 of which was expended on the north front 
and wing, (which part only is now used for the con- 
finement of convicts) all the shops, guard and en- 
gine houses, and various other improvements, 



13 

Facility of Inspection. 

After separation by solitary cells, facility of in 
spection is almost every thing ; and much of the sue- 
which lias attended and maj hereafter attend 

this establishment, is to be attributed to this cause. 

The whole interior yard and shops can lie surveyed 
at a glance, and there are lew by-ways to screen the 
convicts from the view of the keepers. It is impor- 
tant in prison government, as in all others, to remove 
from the subjects of it, as far as practicable, all 
temptations to the commission of offences. It is an 
offence for one convict to speak to another ; but he 
certainly will do it, when he thinks it can be done 
without detection ; and therefore, all reasonable 
means should be adopted to ensure a ready and cer- 
tain discovery, as this will go very far to prevent the 
first attempts at mischief. 

The correctness of these remarks is abundantly 
illustrated by the effects of our inspection avenues, 
which renders it unsafe for a convict, while in the 
shops, ever to transgress the rules. They know that 
officers are constantly patroling these avenues, un- 
seen and unheard by them, and that these officers 
can have a perfect view of all their motions : Hence 
the amount of punishment has greatly decreased, — 
a striking instance of which has occurred in one of 
the shops containing 70 convicts, where, for three 
months, not one of them was punished. But some 
part of this diminution of punishment is, doubtless, 
to be ascribed to the circumstance, that visiters are 
now conducted through this avenue, instead of 
through the shops, as formerly, which presented a 
strong temptation to look off from their work to gaze 
at them ; and if they discovered a friend or acquain- 
tance, to speak of it to those of their fellows who 
might be near them. 

( 'dratant employment is also of the greatest im- 
portance to discipline. Fifty convicts can be more 
easily governed at work, than ten in idleness ; and 



14 

therefore, mischievous indeed must that custom be, 
which allows stint work to convicts, with leisure time 
after it is done. 

General government of the Prison. 

This prison is governed by a board of five inspec- 
tors, residing in the village, who are appointed every 
two years by the governor and senate. They have 
no compensation, and are forbidden, by law, to make 
any contracts for the purchase or sale of any articles 
with the agent of the prison. They appoint the 
agent and keeper, deputy keeper, and all subordi- 
nate officers, who are removable at their pleasure. 

They are authorised and required, by several acts 
of the legislature, to make and establish such rules 
and regulations, from time to time, for the govern- 
ment of the prison, as they may deem necessary, 
and which the officers are bound to enforce and ob- 
serve, all of whom are required to take an oath pre- 
scribed by law. 

Under these regulations, (the more minute details 
of which, the experience of the officers has, from 
time to time, chiefly suggested to the inspectors) 
those officers discharge their various functions. 

The inspectors are required, by law, to make an 
annual report to the legislature, of the progress and 
condition of the institution, and all its various con- 
cerns, and to make such suggestions as to the amend- 
ment of criminal laws as may occur to them ; and 
are also required frequently to visit, personally, and 
inspect the discipline and management of the pri- 



Duties and powers of the Agent and Keeper. 

The law directs, that at the New-York prison, 
there shall be one agent and one principal keeper. 

It is made the duty of the agent to make all con- 
tracts, purchases and sales, and to manage all the 



la 

fiscal concerns and operations of the prison, and in 
which he is required to keep his office. 

It is made the dtttj ol the keeper to superintend 
and direct the subordinate keepers and guard, in all 
their various duties ; manage and be responsible for 
the police ot" the prison, and the sate keeping, and 
regular employment of the convicts ; and he is re- 
quired by law to reside in the prison. These ofti 
cers are allowed each a salary o[ S1250. 

At this prison, the law requires that the duties of 
both those officers shall be discharged by a single in- 
dividual, who shall be denominated agent and keep- 
er. The duties of this officer are, therefore, as va- 
rious as they are complicated and responsible ; and 
he is required to give security tor the faithful per- 
formance of his duties, as agent, to the amount of 
twenty-five thousand dollars. 

The nature and extent of his duties will, in some 
measure, appear from the duties of all the subordi- 
nate officers, for whose acts and conduct the agent, 
and keeper is responsible. The general duties and 
powers of the agent, as such, appear from the fol- 
lowing section of an act of the legislature : 

" Be it enacted, that all the contracts and dealings 
on account of the said institution, shall be transacted 
by and in the name of the agent of the state prison ; 
and by that name the present agent, and his succes- 
sors in office, shall be capable in law of suing and be- 
ing sued, pleading and being impleaded, answering 
and being answered unto, defending and being de- 
fended, in all courts and places, and all actions and 
suits, complaints, matters and causes concerning the 
state prison : And by that name the agent for the time 
being shall be, and is hereby authorised and empow- 
ered to sue for, prosecute, recover, and receive of 
and from all persons indebted to any former agent or 
inspectors of the state prison, or to the people ol 
this state on account thereof, such sums of money as 
shall be due or become due of and from any person 



i 16 

or persons ; and the agent is also authorised to refer 
disputes to arbitration." 

The same act requires, that on the application of 
any prisoner to the agent requesting him to take 
charge of his property, the agent is to collect and 
receive, and sue for any goods, chattels, or monies 
due, or belonging to such prisoner, and to keep a 
correct account thereof, and to pay the amount to 
said prisoner when released, or his legal representa- 
tives ; and if such prisoner should not be released, 
and if no legal representative should demand such 
property, then the same shall be applied to the use 
of the state. 

The agent is required by law to close his accounts 
annually on the thirty-first day of October, and ren- 
der them to the comptroller of the state, on or before 
the first day of December following. 

The practice adopted and pursued by the present 
agent is, to settle and pay all accounts due from him 
to the officers, and all others with whom he has deal- 
ings, the first day of every month ; and immediately 
thereafter transmit, by mail, to the comptroller, the 
vouchers for all the expenditures of the month pre- 
ceding, with an abstract thereof, duly examined and 
certified to be correct, by the board of inspectors, 
and sworn to by the agent and clerk, as directed by 
law ; but the agent does not render to the comptrol^ 
ler a detailed account of monies received by him, 
until the annual settlement. All the money received 
by the agent, personally, he deposits in the bank, and 
all he pays out is paid by checks from a bank check 
book, in the margin of which he states the name, 
amount, date, and for what each check is given, be- 
sides taking necessary vouchers, and making entries 
thereof in the proper books of the office, the same 
as if no entries were made in the said check book. 

These remarks apply to all monies except such 
as are received from visiters, and some other trifling 
daily receipts, which, from necessity and conve- 
nience, the clerk receives, pays out and accounts 



17 

therefor to the agent daily, h mentioned, in Speaking 
o\ his duties 

Bj a late law, the agent is directed, on or before 
the first Tuesday of February in each year, to make 
a report to the secretary ol' state, ol' the names of 
convicts pardoned and discharged the preceding 
>ear ; the crimes lor which they are convicted ; the. 
terms oi time for which they are severally senten* 
ced ; the counties in which they are tried ; ages 
and description of their persons ; and in cases of 
pardon, the time unexpired of the term for which 
they were respectively sentenced ; when such par- 
dons were granted, and the conditions, if any, upon 
which they were granted ; and by the same law, it is 
made the duty oi the secretary to transmit copies 
thereof to all the county clerks in the state. The 
law prohibits the agent from being concerned in 
contracts or dealings with the prison for his private 
benefit. 

The agent and keeper is not to allow convicts to 
receive any letters, or intelligence from or concern* 
ing their friends, or any information on any subject 
out of the prison ; nor to write letters themselves ; 
nor suffer any relative or friend of a convict to speak- 
to him, except in some extraordinary case, where 
the condition of his property or family imperiously 
requires it, and then only in the presence of the 
agent or deputy keeper ; but he is to furnish infor- 
mation to the friends of the convicts, on personal ap- 
plication, or by letter. He is required, by a resolu- 
tion of the board of inspectors, to receive 25 cents 
from each spectator who visits the prison. 

Duty of the Deputy Keeper. 

The deputy keeper is an assistant to the agent 
and keeper ; has a general and constant superin- 
tending care overall but the pecuniary affairs of the 
prison, especially its police and discipline ; and is 
responsible to the agent and keeper, that his orders, 
3 



18 

and all the internal rules and regulations, shall be 
promptly and strictly observed ; and to that end, he 
must always be present at the opening and closing 
of the prison — in the chapel during divine service — 
in the mess-room while the convicts are eating ; and 
also at all other prison hours, except an hour each 
for his own breakfast and dinner. 

He is to be constantly moving about in the inte- 
rior of the prison, visiting irregularly, and without, 
notice, the hospital, kitchen, shops, yards, and all 
departments of the prison. He sees that the assis- 
tant keepers are vigilant and attentive to their du- 
ty ; that they keep their men diligent and in order, 
and that none are chastised for disobedience with 
unreasonable severity. 

He attends to the convict's clothing, and is respon- 
sible that it is properly changed, and in order. 

He receives reports from the assistant keepers, of 
the offences of convicts, and reports the same to the 
agent and keeper. 

He goes frequently into the lodging department;, 
and to the hospital during the evening, and occasion- 
ally in the night, to see that all is right, and that the 
assistant keepers and guards, on night duty, are vigi- 
lant and faithful. 

He attends, personally, to discharging every con- 
vict, whether by expiration of sentence or pardon, 
and sees that his clothes are in order for that pur- 
pose. He has the more immediate direction and 
control of all the assistant keepers and guard ; gives 
them such instructions, advice and admonition as be- 
come necessary ; and informs the agent and keeper 
of any neglect of duty, or impropriety of conduct, 
and, in his absence, the deputy has the full powers 
of the keeper. 

Duty of the Clerk. 

The clerk must be in his office, at the prison, from 
the time of opening until closing it, except an hour 



each for breakfast and dinner, and generally to per- 
form all such writing as the inspectors and agent 
mav require. lie makes out visiting tickets, and re- 
ceives the money from visiters, and accounts every 
night to the agent for the same, and such other mo- 
nies as he has received during the day. 

It is also his duty, (as well as the agent's) to see 
that the accounts are properly kept in the different 
shops for labor done by the convicts ; and at the 
close of each month, or oftener, if required by the 
agent, to copy them into the regular office books, 
which must at all times be posted, and ready for ex- 
amination. He must examine and copy into the 
books the items of all bills of articles, purchased by 
the agent for the prison. At the end of each month, 
he must examine, arrange, and number the vouchers 
for that month, make out two abstracts of the same, 
one for the comptroller, and one for the office ; and 
after the vouchers are audited by the comptroller, 
enter the same in detail in the books, so that from 
year to year all the items of expenditure may appear. 
He copies pardons, and should be present to make 
entries and necessary papers, whenever convicts are 
received or discharged ; and keeps the books, in 
which are recorded their names, ages, crimes, sen- 
tences, where tried and by whom sentenced, with a 
description of their persons and places of nativity. 
It is his duty to make out all the writings and re- 
turns that are necessary in making the annual settle- 
ment between the agent and the comptroller, and also 
the details for the inspector's annual report to the 
legislature. 

He records all appointments and removals from 
office, and the official transactions of the board of 
inspectors ; and attends strictly to pecuniary con- 
cerns in the absence of the agent. 

He makes out a pay roll, and, under the direction 
of the agent, makes a settlement with all the prison 
officers monthly, and also with contractors, and oth- 
ers, who have dealings with the agent. 



20 
Duties of the Physician. 

The duties of the physician are mentioned in re- 
marks upon the management of the hospital and 
the sick. 

He must attend personally at the prison, at a par^ 
ticular hour every morning ; repeat his visits through 
the day, and at all times when the condition of the 
sick requires it ; and when sent for, is to come im- 
mediately to the prison, to the exclusion of all other 
professional business or engagements. 

He is also required, by law, to keep a register of 
all deceased convicts ; stating their names, ages, 
places of birth, time of death, disease, and all other 
circumstances which he may esteem necessary; 
which register shall always remain at the prison, and 
be open to inspection. 

Duties of Assistant Keepers. 

The arduous duties of these officers principally 
appear in describing the general police and routine 
of prison regulations ; but there are some remarks 
proper to be made, and some general rules to be laid 
down, under this head. 

Assistant keepers, when on duty, are to govern 
themselves in strict conformity to the rules of the 
institution ; and at all times, when in the keeper's 
hall, to consider themselves subject to the rules of 
the prison ; and, therefore, at such times, to refrain 
from singing, whistling, scuffling, loud or immode- 
rate laughter, provoking witticisms or sarcasms on 
each other ; and it is strictly forbidden for one assis- 
tant keeper to treat another with any harsh or un- 
gentlemanly epithet, in presence of convicts. 

No assistant keeper shall absent himself from the 
prison during business hours, without consent of the 
keeper or deputy keeper, or leave his station in any 
part of the prison, unless upon urgent and necessary 
business ; and if he shall at any time obtain leave of 
absence from the keeper, he shall, prior to leaving 



SI 

the prison, acquaint the deputy keeper with the 
same. 

No assistant keeper shall sead a convict to the 
hospital, or give medicine, unless in extraordinary 
eases, without orders from the keeper, deputy keep- 
er or physician. 

No assistant keeper -shall say any thing in respect 
to the police of the prison in the presence of con- 
victs, unless it be in the way of directing them in 
their duty, or admonition for delinquences ; neither 
shall he hold common-place conversation with con- 
victs, or allow them to speak to him on any subject, 
except on necessary business. 

If an assistant keeper shall at any time punish a 
convict for misconduct, he shall, in a reasonable time 
thereafter, make a formal report of the same, in wri- 
ting, to the keeper or deputy keeper, stating the 
convict's name, the nature of the oftence, and the 
amount of punishment inflicted on the delinquent. 

Each assistant keeper must keep a list of his 
men's names ; and against each man's name, he 
must set the number of the cell occupied by him, 
and must instruct them in all the rules of the prison, 
with which it is necessary they should be acquain- 
ted. 

No assistant keeper shall suffer any person be- 
longing to the institution, or otherwise, to sell, or 
borrow and carry away, any thing belonging to the 
prison, without consent of the keeper, or deputy, in 
his absence. 

Assistant keepers are to refrain from all conversa- 
tion with each other, and with contractors when on 
duty, except such as may be absolutely necessary in 
reference to such duty ; and also, while on duty, to 
refrain from reading or writing, and to avoid taking 
into the shops, or any apartment of the prison where 
convicts are employed, paper, letters, newspapers, 
or any books, except such as are allowed the con- 
victs by law. 



No spirituous liquors, strong beer or ale, are ever 
to be used by any officer or guard in or about the 
prison ; nor is the practice now permitted for an of- 
ficer, when he is first appointed, or resigns, to invite 
the other officers together for the purpose of drink- 
ing, or treating, as it is called* 

All the assistant keepers are required to attend di- 
vine service in the prison on the Sabbath, except 
one in the north wing, and one in the kitchen. 

A uniform gravity and dignity of deportment are 
always to be observed by the officers in presence of 
the convicts, calculated to inspire them with respect 
and confidence, and not to indulge, in the least de- 
gree, in levity, passion, or petulance. 

And in their intercourse among themselves, the 
officers are, at all times, to treat each other with that 
mutual respect and kindness that become gentlemen 
and friends, and to cultivate an ardent zeal to pro- 
mote the best interests and advance the reputation 
of the institution, in the credit of which they must, 
of course, be common sharers. Thus they avoid 
collision, jealousies, envy, separate and party views" 
and interests, and combine their united talents and 
exertions, for the promotion of the public good, and 
the advancement of their own reputation. 

The keepers are to punish convicts for violations 
of duty, by stripes, which are required to be inflicted 
with a raw-hide whip, and applied to the back in 
such a manner as not to expose the head, face, eyes, 
or in any way to put the convict's health or limbs in 
danger ; and the use of any stick, or cane, or any 
other weapon, or of the fist or feet, is strictly for- 
bidden, except in cases of self-defence. As this is 
a high and delicate trust, the assistant keepers are 
often admonished to exercise it with humanity and 
discretion, without passion, and in such a temper of 
mind and feeling, as will convince the offender, that 
the chastisement is given solely for his good, and as 
an example to others ; and that it is a most painful 
duty for the officer to perform. 



m 

In aggravated cases, a cat, made ot' six strans ol 
small twine, is applied to the bare back, uuder the 
direction ol* the keeper or deputy. 

These rules and regulations are based upon the 
principle, that the officers legally stand in the same 
relation to the convicts, as the master to his appren- 
tice, and the schoolmaster to his scholar ; and that 
the officer having the immediate charge of the con^ 
duct and labor of the convicts, may lawfully exercise 
the same means of coercing the observance of an) 
of the known duties of the convicts, and for prevent- 
ing their mischievous and riotous practices, as the 
master or schoolmaster may exercise in coercing the 
observance of duty in the apprentice or scholar. 

And it may well be added, as an undoubted truth, 
that this mode of punishment occasions much less 
personal suffering to the convicts, as well as loss of 
time, than any other which could be devised. So 
certainly and instantaneously does correction follow 
offences, that they rarely occur ; and hence, there 
is no loss of time, and but little amount of suffering. 
It is better, as well as easier, to prevent the commis- 
sion of crimes, than to redress them by subsequent 
punishment ; and this capital principle should be 
adhered to in all governments. 

Number and duties of the Guard. 

There are ten of the guard, including the Serjeant, 
who commands them, who are all required during 
prison hours, to be in the guard-house, except those 
on duty. Besides the duty performed by them, as 
mentioned elsewhere, one must be constantly placed 
as a sentinel on the wall, so as to overlook the north 
yards ; one on the opposite side of the prison, to 
overlook the sonth yards, and are to be relieved 
every hour. They also go to the stores in the vil- 
lage, and to other places, on errands ; and, with the 
prison horse and cart, go after hospital stores, shop 
materials, and whatever else may be necessary. 



24 

I'hey are required also, at all times, to keep their 
arms in order. They are to allow no citizen to 
go on the wall, or into the guard-house, without 
special permission. 

One of the guard is sometimes employed in the 
north yard, instead of an assistant keeper. 

Duties of Convicts. 

The duty of convicts in this prison, is to obey or- 
ders, and labor diligently in silence. They must 
approach the officers of the institution with defer- 
ence ; and when addressing them, must bestow on 
them their usual civic titles, and make use of none 
but the most respectful language. 

They are not to speak to each other, on any pre- 
tence, except by special direction of a keeper; may 
not sing, dance, whistle, run, jump, or do any thing 
which will have the least tendency to disturb or alarm 
the prison. Their every movement and whole de- 
meanor are to be in strict accordance to the most 
perfect order, and the situation in which they are 
placed. They are not to. leave their places without 
permission from a proper officer, and are, at all times, 
to keep their caps off, except when in the yards, or 
laboring in the blacksmith's shop. They are never 
to speak to any person who does not belong to the 
prison ; are not to chew tobacco, or have it in pos- 
session ; shall not look off from their work to see 
spectators, or gaze at them when idle. They are 
not to speak to their officers on ordinary topics ; and 
when it becomes necessary to address them in rela- 
tion to their business or their wants, they are to make 
their business known in few words, and in a respect- 
ful manner. 

No convict is wilfully or negligently to injure his 
work, tools, wearing apparel, or bedding ; nor is he 
to make the articles carelessly or badly on which he 
is at work, when he has ability to make them well. 
For the wilful or repeated neglect or violation of 



these OF other rules, chastisement is inflicted by the 
keepers. 

It is easy to perceive, that the most unceasing vi- 
gilance and untiring zeal, on the part of the otficers, 
are requisite to enforce these regulations, and that 
they occasion a \a>i variety of particular rules and 
practices to carry into effect these general objects, 
which can be suggested only by experience. A con- 
vict's word is never taken, even against another con- 
vict, and much less against an oflicer. 

Shop Regulations. 

There are in the corners of the shops, one or more 
small necessaries, prepared with suitable tubs, which 
are taken by a convict selected for that business, 
emptied into a vault, and cleansed so often as not to 
become in the least offensive. 

But one convict enters the necessary at a time ; 
and he must take with him a stick, which at other 
times hangs in a conspicuous place, that it can be 
known by looking there whether any one is in the 
necessary. There is the same regulation in the 
north yard, and also a necessary outside for those 
in the kitchen and wash-room, and under the same 
management. 

The large vault is kept locked, except in the 
morning, and the key hung up at the door of the 
blacksmith's shop near by, and one only can take it 
at a time to empty tubs, so as to prevent conversa- 
tion, unseen, in the vault. 

There must be at least one assistant keeper in 
each mechanic department, who is master of the bu- 
siness pursued in it, who instructs new convicts, and 
sees that the old make first-rate work. He also 
sometimes places a faithful and experienced con- 
vict by the side of a raw hand, to show him, and pla- 
ces them where he can keep his eye on them, to pre- 
vent communication, except barely what is necessa- 
ry- for instruction ; and though the convicts mav thu* 
4 



26 

occasionally exchange a word they ought not, yet 
can carry on no connected discourse ; the instruction 
being chiefly given by showing, and that under the 
jealous and watchful eye of the keeper. 

The assistant keeper has the superintendence of 
all the work in the shop, but has no more powers 
than the other assistant keepers, not mechanics, who 
assist in governing the shops. 

He keeps a list of all the convicts in his shop on 
his desk ; puts down, opposite the name of each, the 
kind and amount of work done by him, and requires 
him to do all he can reasonably perform, according to 
his ability, without stint work. 

But the assistant keeper will soon discover what 
the convict ought to perform, and will compel him to 
do it ; and when well, he is not suffered to be idle a 
single moment, or have any particular favor or allow- 
ance for any thing that might be called over-work. 

This assistant keeper examines and directs the 
management of all raw materials, and prevents their 
waste ; critically inspects all work, and sends it to 
the proper places of deposit, with a bill thereof for 
the contractors, every day ; and also keeps account 
of all articles, with the prices, and enters them in a 
book, which are afterwards posted by the clerk into 
the regular prison book of the agent in the office. 

In all the shops, the convicts are arranged, as far 
as possible, in such a way as not to face each other, 
and have their work entirely separate. 

There are convicts selected for each shop as wai- 
ters or tenders, to distribute materials, remove rub- 
bish, hand about or grind tools, take out ware, sweep 
the shops, hand drink, &,c. under the eye and direc- 
tion of the assistant keeper, chiefly by signs, so that 
tfye laborers need not leave their work. 

In this way, a shop, and business of an hundred 
men, are so managed, that hours together will fre- 
quently pass without a word being spoken. 

The shops are often scrubbed, and occasionally 
whitewashed. AH the convicts are shaved once a 



27 

week by convict barbers, on Friday and Saturday, 
and their hair kept short. They are also compelled 
to wash their feet often ; and, in the warm season, 
frequently to bathe in one of the reservoirs of water 

in the yard. 

Rea bring new Convicts. 

The convicts who are received, before being al- 
lowed to go to work, or into the cells, have their 
irons taken off; are then shaved, their hair cut, then- 
bodies cleansed with warm water and soap, and tho- 
roughly purified from the filth and vermin, which 
they too often bring with them from county jails. 
They are then decently clad in the clean striped 
dress of the prison, and a descriptive list taken and 
entered by the clerk in a book for that purpose. 

They are then carefully instructed by the keeper or 
deputy in the few plain and simple rules, by which 
it is necessary their conduct should be governed, 
and then put to work at such trade as they may have, 
provided it be practicable ; if not, or if they have no 
trade, the keeper selects such as appears best adap- 
ted to their apparent constitutions and activity. 

Convicts arriving in the night, are always placed 
in a particular large dark room until morning. (It 
is proper here to state, and expose to public repro- 
bation, the practice of some sheriffs and deputies, 
of allowing ardent spirits to convicts on their way to 
the prison, and frequently to such a degree that they 
come in grossly intoxicated.) 

Opening the Prison in the Morning, and Proceedings 
of the Day. 

Hours of labor vary according to the season. In 
long days, they commence at half past 5 o'clock in 
the morning, and close at six at night ; and in short 
days, the hours are so fixed, as to embrace all the 
day light. 



28 

Fifteen minutes before opening the prison, a bell 
is rung by the guard at the front gate, for the officers 
and guard to assemble ; and soon after, a small 
bell in the north wing, where the convicts lodge, by 
an officer on night duty, for the convicts to rise, 
dress, and prepare to come out. At the end of fif- 
teen minutes, the bell at the front gate again rings, 
when the assistant keepers take their keys from the 
key room, and proceed to their respective galleries, 
and unlock the convicts, who march out with their 
night tubs, water cans, and mush kids ; the two last 
of which they leave in the wash-room, which they 
pass through, and then proceed through the yard, 
empty their tubs in the vault, rinse them at the 
pumps, partly fill them with water to prevent their 
falling to pieces, and from becoming offensive, and 
place them in rows by the sides of the shops, which 
they then enter and commence labor ; but, before 
breakfast, wash their faces and hands in vessels pre- 
pared in their shops for that purpose. 

There has recently been an additional door made 
through the wall, between the north wing and wash- 
room, and also additional facilities for emptying and 
rinsing their tubs, by which means the convicts are 
taken from their cells to their labor in the morning, 
and back again at night, in one half the time that 
was formerly occupied for these purposes. 

Breakfast 

At from seven to eight in the morning, according 
to the season, at large bell, hung in the centre of the 
interior yard, is rung as a signal for breakfast ; when 
the convicts form again in aline in the shops, and are 
marched by their respective assistant keepers 
through the yard, and enter the large dining hall, or 
mess-room, at two different doors, face around by 
their plates, and stand 'till all have got their places, 
when the steward keeper rings a small bell, and they 



29 

instantly sit down to their meals, which have been 
equally divided by the cooks. 

But as some eat more, and some less, convict wai- 
ters, provided with large vessels, pass along con- 
stantly between the tables, taking food from those 
who raise their right hand, in token that they have 
it to spare, and giving to those who raise their left 
hand, to signify they want more ; thus averaging 
their food to their various appetites, without allowing 
them to exchange food with each other, which 
would make confusion. The tables are narrow, and 
the convicts, sitting on one side only, are placed face 
to back, and never face to face, so as to avoid ex- 
changing looks or signs. 

When the steward perceives the convicts have 
done eating, or have had ample time for it, he rings 
the bell, when all rise instantly, and march to their 
shops to labor ; those going out first who came in 
last. All this occupies from 20 to 30 minutes. The 
places of the convicts at table are so arranged, that 
if any one is absent from accident or design, he is 
instantly missed. 

Of the Sick. 

Sick convicts report themselves as such to their 
keeper, who puts their names on a paper, and sends 
it to the keeper's hall ; when, at 9 o'clock in the 
morning, the physician comes. He sends to the 
shops for the sick, and they all are taken at once by 
an assistant keeper to the hospital, where they are 
examined ; and such as require it are retained, and 
the others sent back to their shops, with written di- 
rections to the assistant keepers, for full or light la- 
bor, as their cases may require. 

Clothes Time. 

From 10 o'clock, A. M. 'till half past ten, is call- 
ed " clothes time." When convicts clothes or 



30 

shoes need changing, they are required to report 
themselves to the assistant keeper, who sends them 
up to the clothes room at clothes time, where the 
deputy keeper attends and gives them clean and 
whole clothes, as they need, except shirts, which 
they change on Sunday mornings at their cells, after 
having been distributed under the direction of the 
assistant keepers on Sunday duty. 

Blacksmiths come to the clothes room and ex- 
change clothes every Saturday night, just before the 
prison closes. It has been lately arranged, that the 
convicts come up but from one shop each morning, 
as being attended with less confusion, and danger of 
communication between them, than when they were 
more or less sent from all the shops every morning, 
as formerly. 

Dinner. 

The convicts always dine at 12 o'clock, and the 
proceedings are precisely as at breakfast, except 
that a blessing is implored at dinner by the chaplain, 
previously to their being seated. 

Closing the Prison at night, and night duty. 

Just before quitting labor, the fires are secured ; the 
convicts wash their faces and hands, and then, at the 
ringing of the yard bell, the convicts form in a line 
in their proper places, according to the numbers of 
their cells, march out of their shops to their rows of 
tubs ; and at command, take them up, step for- 
ward, empty the water into the drain, advance to the 
pumps, take a very little fresh water again into their 
tubs, hang the bale on their left arm, and proceed in 
reversed order from that of coming out in the morn- 
ing, (those going in first who came out last) to the 
wash-room adjoining the kitchen, where their mush 
and molasses in a kid, and water to drink in a can, 
have been placed together in rows by the cooks, and 



n 

without breaking their step the convicts stoop and 
take up their supper and drink, ami march to their 
respective galleries, enter their own cells as they 
arrive at their numbers, and pull their doors partly 
to. Each gallery is occupied by one company, 
which is marched and locked up by one assistant 
keeper, with two keys differing from each other, and 
all the rest. 

The keys having been taken from the key-room 
by the kitchen steward, and placed in the wash- 
room window, are taken by the assistant keepers as 
they pass through with their companies ; and when 
they arrive at their galleries, commence locking 
their cells at No. 1, and as they enter the keys, the 
convicts suddenly quite shut the doors, which proves 
that they are in their cells, without the delay of exa- 
mining. 

When the assistant keeper has gone through his 
gallery, he returns directly back to No. 1, trying all 
the locks, to guard against mistakes. The assistant 
keepers then all repair to the keeper's hall ; and if 
the convicts are all in their cells, or hospital, return 
the keys to the key-room. But if not, which they 
ascertain by the hospital report, and the list of con- 
victs of each gallery kept by the assistant keepers, 
with the No. of the cells annexed to each, their keys 
are retained 'till the convict is found ; but this has 
rarely happened. 

When the keys are secured in the key-room, the 
bell is rung at the front gate, to signify that all i> 
right ; when the deputy keeper, assistant keepers, 
and guard, may all leave the prison, except two as- 
sistant keepers and one guard, who remain one hour 
and a quarter ; the former, watching the solitary 
wing, and the latter tend, one of them to the front 
gate and inner doors, and the other to patrol the 
shops, to see that every thing is secure, and espe- 
cially the fires. Two other assistant keepers, and 
two other guard, then arrive, to perform duty through 
'he ni^ht. 



One of the guard goes immediately into the yards 
and shops, and spends one hour examining carefully to 
find if any fire is left ; and as often as once an hour 
goes in to the interior yard for that purpose through the 
night. The night station for the guard is in the 
keeper's hall, adjacent to and within common speak- 
ing distance from the grate of the door leading into 
the lodging department, or north wing. They take 
turns in sleeping and watching. 

The two assistant keepers in the north wing do the 
same, so that one assistant keeper and one guard 
are always awake ; to be assured of which, they are 
required to report to each other every thirty mi- 
nutes, on pain of removal. As an additional secu- 
rity, the keeper and deputy frequently go silently in 
at different hours of the night. 

Assistant keepers are enjoined to keep constantly 
moving around the galleries, and to the hospital, 
(which is in the attic story of the north wing,) having 
socks on their feet, and walking so noiselessly, that 
each convict does not know but that he is at the very 
door of his cell, ready to discover and report the 
next morning for punishment, the slightest breach of 
silence or order. Thus the whole wing, containing 
between five and six hundred convicts, is almost as 
still as the house of death. If any one is taken vio- 
lently sick, he may rap on his grate, on which the 
assistant keeper will go to him, send the guard for 
the keeper ; and if he thinks it necessary, the con- 
vict is taken to the hospital, and the prison physician 
sent for. 

This wing, in the proper season, is well warmed 
by stoves, in the area around the cells, which are 
thus sufficiently heated. 

The convicts are required, at an early hour, by 
the ringing of the bell, to take off their clothes, and go 
to bed upon their canvass hammocks, with sufficient 
blankets ; but when well, are not permitted to lie 
down before the bell rings, nor to get up again, but 
from necessity, 'till the bell rings in the morning. 



33 

The area around the cells, the keeper's hall, and the 
agent's dwelling, arc kepi well lighted by lamps 

through the night After the convicts are rung 
down at night, all the locks are again tried by the 
assistant keepers on duty. 

At lour o'clock in the morning, the principal cook 
is let out from his cell, builds fires in the kitchen, 
and commences preparation for breakfast. He can 
now be watched through a grate lately made in the 
door between the wash-room and north wing, by the 
assistant keeper there ; and required, by the ringing 
a small bell suspended to a wire in the kitchen, and 
extending into the north wing, whenever out of 
sight, to show himself. 

The several assistant keepers, who have no com- 
panies of convicts to lock and unlock, place themr 
selves, while that is doing, in the angles and differ- 
ent places about the wing, to aid in observing and 
preventing any talk or irregularity among the con- 
victs, as they march along the galleries ; and are 
some of them more or less, occasionally, out of the 
view of the officer who locks and unlocks them. 

The key of the key-room is always, day and night, 
in the hands of some one in the keeper's hall, who 
is on duty. A duty-roster of the officers and guard 
is kept hanging in the keeper's hall, and kept by the 
officer on duty there, shewing the order and time of 
their performing night, hall, and Sunday duty. 

Sunday Regulations. 

On Sunday morning, the officers and guard are 
all present, and the prison is opened at the same 
time and in the same manner as on other days ; and 
the convicts, after emptying and rinsing their night 
tubs, march back to their cells, and their doors are 
latched ; when one of them is let out from each gal- 
lery, to distribute the clean shirts through the door 
grates, (which have been put up in as many bun- 
dles as there are galleries of convicts) and with an 
5 



34 

assistant keeper going always by his side. The 
names of those reported sick, on Sunday mor dng, 
are put on paper by the assistant keeper, and hung 
on a wire by the door, which the physician takes, 
and visits them at their cells. 

Assistant keepers must see that the convicts are 
provided with bibles, combs, and glasses to read, 
when necessary, and the scholars with, spelling- 
books. 

Sunday Breakfast. 

The officers remain until the bell rings for break- 
fast, when the convicts are let out and marched 
through the wash-room and kitchen, to the mess- 
room ; and when they return from breakfast through 
the wash-room, take their cans of fresh drinking 
water, which have been filled and placed there by 
the cooks. 

The convicts are then locked up in the usual 
manner, the keys returned to the key-room, and the 
officers disperse, except two assistant keepers, who 
both watch the cells and hospital through the day, 
(after having been relieved by two others an hour for 
breakfast) in the same manner as is done by one at 
a time at night, except that they allow no well con- 
victs to lie down till the bell rings at evening. 
* One guard also remains all day in the keeper's 
hall, to tend the front gate and inner doors, (he hav- 
ing also been relieved for breakfast) but neither he, 
nor the assistant keepers on duty, are relieved to eat 
again until night. 

Sunday School. 

The Sunday school embraces nearly one fourth 
of all the convicts in prison. These remain in their 
seats at the breakfast table on Sunday morning, un- 
til the rest of the convicts are marched out to their 
cells, and then are taken by two assistant keepers to 



35 

tfie chapel, where they are taught by about 20 young 
gentlemen from the Theological Seminary, who ge- 
nerously volunteer their services. 

They are also superintended by the said two as- 
sistant keepers, and remain in school until divine 
service. The resident chaplain has the general su- 
perintendence of the Sabbath school, which is also 
visited by the agent and deputy keeper. 

The teachers are strictly prohibited from holding 
any conversation with the convicts, except what re- 
lates strictly to their studies, avoiding all remarks in 
their hearing upon any other subject whatever, and 
observing in all their conduct, a grave and serious 
deportment. Neither are they to countenance in 
the convicts any thing that savors of levity, or an at- 
tempt at improper familiarity. The assistant keep- 
ers are required to enforce these and all other salu- 
tary school regulations, and also to report to the 
agent any thing which may justly be considered a 
violation of them. There is no Sabbath school in 
the afternoon during the winter season. 

Divine Service. 

At precisely 10 o'clock, the officers and guard 
are all assembled again, and all the convicts are un- 
locked in the usual way, and marched through the 
wash-room, leaving their water cans again, and pro- 
ceed on in the usual silence and order into the south 
wing and upper west story, prepared for a chapel, 
furnished with narrow seats with backs, so that they 
sit comfortably, facing the minister, without looking 
in each other's faces. A sermon is delivered, and 
the usual divine service performed, except singing. 
Small platforms are erected at the sides and ends of 
the chapel, where the assistant keepers sit, so eleva- 
ted, as perfectly to overlook every convict. 

The guard remain outside of the prison, and the 
assistant keeper who oversees the kitchen, remains 
'here wtih the cooks, to prepare and divide the ra- 



36 

lions of meat, bread, and vegetables, which are to 
supply them until the next morning. This is put in 
their mush kids, their water cans filled again with 
fresh water, and all arranged as usual in the wash- 
room. 

When divine service has closed, and the chaplain 
retired, the company which came in last, at the word 
of their keeper, rise and march out, and the other 
keepers, with their men, following in the same man- 
ner ; and as they pass again through the wash-room, 
take their kids of rations and cans of water to their 
cells, are locked up, and the assistant keepers and 
guard, (except those on duty) disperse for the re- 
mainder of the day. 

If any convict has used or spilt his can of water, 
and needs more, he is supplied by the assist, nt 
keepers on duty, through the door grate, by the ai i 
of a tunnel. 



Of Assistant Keeper's reliefs. 

There are only 18 assistant keepers at present, 
who are allowed one hour for breakfast, and one for 
dinner ; and as twelve, at least, are indispensably 
necessary at all prison hours, they can only be re- 
lieved by eating at different times of the day ; for 
instance, some dine at eleven, some at twelve, and 
others at one o'clock. 

Waiting on visiters, scrubbing, whitewashing, ma- 
king repairs, and other jobs about the prison, con- 
stantly require the superintendence of such assist- 
ant keepers as may not be regularly necessary in the 
established departments. The same remarks as to 
relief will apply to the guard. 

Visiters. 

The guard at the front gate admits, at the proper 
hours, all decent persons who request it ; and if they 
wish to visit the prison, are directed to the clerk's 



office, where they are famished with tickets, at 26 

cents each person, t'rom a ticket book similar to a 
bank check book ; in the margin of which, are en- 
tered the date, number and amount of tickets. The 
guard at the inner door in the keeper's hall allows no 
one to pass into the prison, without the permission 
of the keeper or deputy, unless there is an assistant 
keeper to go with him ; and he has a ticket, which 
the guard slips on a wire, through a hole into a close 
box, which is opened every month, and the tickets 
compared with the margin of the ticket book, to 
guard against fraud or mistake. 

Instead of being conducted through the shops 
among the convicts, as formerly, spectators are. 
now taken through the inspection avenues in 
the rear, and which surround all the shops, where 
thej can ha\e a full view of the convicts, without the 
convicts being able to see the spectators, who are to 
refrain from levity, noise, and loud conversation, and 
are not to speak the names of the convicts they may 
see in the shops, or on any subject so loud as to be 
heard by them. 

Spectators are also conducted through the north 
wing, and all other departments, except that of the 
females and the hospital ; they are treated politely, 
and all desired information furnished them. 

JVorth Wing, containing the Cells and Hospital. 

This wing is under the charge of a particular as- 
sistant keeper, who examines the cells, hammocks, 
books, &.c. ; and if any wilful injury is done them by 
any convicts, or any weapon, tools, or the like, are 
found, he puts down the number of the cell, and of- 
fence committed, and reports the same for punish- 
ment. 

He sees that the hospital, cells, bedding, galleries, 
<5cc. are kept perfectly clean, and well aired, for 
which purpose a number of convicts are constantly 
employed. 



38 

The whole department is swept clean every day, 
thoroughly scrubbed with hot soap suds each week, 
and whitewashed during the warm weather every 
month. A sixth part of the cells, galleries, &c. 
is scrubbed every day, so as not to occasion too 
much dampness. 



Two trusty and active convicts are selected ; one 
as a cook in the hospital kitchen, and to assist the 
other, who is a steward or nurse, and has the parti- 
cular charge of the sick, and attends strictly to all 
the directions of the physician, and shaves the sick 
convicts. When necessary, other convicts are sent 
in to watch with the sick at night. 

A report of the names of all the convicts retained 
in the hospital, is every day sent to the keeper's 
hall, that when assistant keepers find any cell vacant 
as they lock up at night, they may know if any of 
them are in the hospital ; and the north wing keeper, 
who locks the hospital a few minutes before the pri- 
son closes, must see that all are in who belong 
there. 

The physician directs what provisions are neces- 
sary for the hospital, and the north wing and hospi- 
tal keeper must also see that the keeper is infortned 
that he may provide them. These are obtained by 
purchase from day to day, but usually at steady pla- 
ces, where the best terms and articles can be had. 
All these provisions are weighed and examined at the 
keeper's hall, and if of good quality, are entered, 
with the name of the person furnishing them, in a 
book prepared for the purpose, and then are sent 
to the hospital. 

The key of the hospital is kept with others in the 
key -room ; the key of the medicine room is usually 
kept in the deputy keeper's desk, and the key of the 
liquor chest by the physician. 



39 

The sick are allowed all the articles of comfort 
which would be proper to allow the sick in any cir- 
cumstances in life. 

When a convict dies, his body is kept 24 hours ; 
and it' not claimed by any relative, the law of the 
state requires that it should be delivered to the agent 
of the college of physicians at Fairfield, for dissec- 
tion. Such agent is usually the prison physician. 

Kitchen and JFash-room Department. 

There are about sixteen convicts employed in the 
ki -hen and wash-room; one third of them at wash- 
ing convict's clothes and bedding. 

The various kitchen employments of setting and 
cleaning tables, washing dishes, and other articles, 
(more than 6000 daily) baking, cooking, cutting and 
dividing rations, are allotted to particular convicts 
by the steward keeper, and superintended by him 
in the most regular and systematic manner ; and ve- 
ry special care is observed in keeping the mess- 
room and kitchen as clean as posssible, and having 
them frequently whitewashed. 

The rations are all weighed or measured by the 
steward keeper, and he is responsible, and liable to 
censure or removal, if he receives any provisions 
not good and wholesome. Great pains are taken 
by him in varying and managing the food to the best 
advantage, and especially in making bean and meal 
soups from the meat-liquor. From eight to ten as- 
sistant keepers are always present at breakfast and 
dinner, to preserve perfect order and profound si- 
lence, and to march the convicts back to their labor. 

Female Department. 

The females are all put together in the attic story 
q[ the south wing, and the steward keeper of the 
kitchen department has the charge ol this also. 
They are employed mainly in picking wool, knitting 



40 

and spooling, although to very little advantage, as no 
means of coercion can well be adopted, nor any re- 
straint upon conversation with each other, they be- 
ing left alone, except once a day, when the said stew- 
ard keeper goes with three of his kitchen convicts, 
and takes their rations and other supplies, and orders 
out the work they may have done, and other things 
that become daily requisite. They are visited by 
the physician when sick, and sometimes by the chap- 
lain. 

It is a subject of surprise, that in this enlightened 
and Christian age, female convicts should be con- 
fined in the same penitentiary with male convicts ; 
and it is hoped the time is not distant, when that 
wretched class of beings shall be placed in a sepa- 
rate asylum, where, by the aid of matrons and soli- 
tary confinement at night, they may have some 
chance for improvement. 

Receiving Yards. 

That which has been called the north yard, is now 
divided into two by a partition wall, extending from 
the north east corner of the prison to the north wall, 
and is about 30 feet high. 

In the centre, on the top, is a sentry box, from 
which a guard can overlook both yards ; and direct- 
ly under, is a gate large enough for teams to pass, 
and this gate is to be always shut when the outer 
gate is open, to guard against any sudden rush of 
convicts. 

In the yard next the east wall, is the guard-house, 
under which are the stable and fire engine house. In 
the yard west of the said partition wall, and attach- 
ed to the north wall, is the new cooper's shop ; and 
at the west end, a soap and ash house, coal house, 
and also a fire proof brick building 34 by 16, three 
stories high, recently built for a kiln to dry cooper's 
stuff and lumber. In these yards are received, saw- 
de, split, and piled up, the wood for the prison ; all 



41 

the lumber ami materials for, and ware from the 
shops, and rations tor convicts, ami of necessity, is 
the great thoroughfare of the prison. Rubbish from 
the shops, and orlals from the kitchen, are brought to 
the outer vard and burnt, or loaded into the state 
cart by convicts, and driven outside by one of the 
guard. 

The assistant keeper having charge of these yards, 
must keep an account in a book, of wood, hay, ash- 
es, lumber, and other materials, brought for the state ; 
watch closely citizens, who come in with teams, &.c. ; 
prevent them talking with convicts, or privately giv- 
ing them liquor, tobacco, or other forbidden articles, 
which many would do if they could, with safety. 
Convicts employed in this yard, are such as have no 
trades, and are robust, and most fit to labor. 

The keeper of these yards frequently needs the 
assistance of a trusty guard, to aid him in the above 
services. 

Contracts for the lobar of Convicts ; duties of Con- 
tractors, fyc. 

For many years after the erection of New-York 
State Prison, the agent purchased all raw materials, 
had them manufactured and sold from a prison store, 
on account of the state ; and after this course had 
resulted in very serious losses, the legislature wise- 
ly abolished it, and directed that no materials beyond 
a very limited amount should be purchased on account 
of the state ; but that the agent should make contracts 
for the labor, simply, of convicts, with those who would 
furnish materials, and dispose of the articles manu- 
factured exclusively on their own account ; by 
which means, great risks and losses are avoided, and 
much private capital, and personal interest and en- 
terprize, are brought into action, in promoting the 
active and profitable employment of the convicts. 

But this mode of employing convicts is attended 
with considerable danger to the discipline of the 
6 



42 

prison, by bringing the convicts in contact with con- 
tractors and their agents, unless very strict rules are 
rigidly enforced. 

As a general rule, a contractor is not permitted to 
speak to a convict ; but is required to express his 
wishes and give directions to a keeper, whom they w 
have a right, at all times, to call on in the shops, and 
inspect their own business, but not to visit any other 
part of the prison where their business is not pur- 
sued. 

There are, however, necessarily, some exceptions 
to the rule against their speaking to convicts ; as 
where the mechanic employment is not well under- 
stood by the shop keeper, as is the case in some in- 
stances. In this case, the contractor, or a first rate 
journeyman employed by him, is allowed to instruct 
and superintend the convicts, subject to all the rules 
of the institution ; such as, that he shall never con- 
verse with convicts on any subject matter or thing, 
which does not immediately and necessarily relate 
to their employment and instruction ; and that if a 
convict presumes to speak to the contractor, or his 
overseer or journeyman, in reference to any thing 
but his work, they are bound to report him to the 
keeper in the shop, for punishment. A citizen, who 
will be faithful in this duty, will avoid all trouble 
himself, because the convicts, seeing his firmness, 
and that he will not put himself on a level with 
them, will at once give over all attempts at familiar 
conversation, applications for aid in procuring par- 
don, for tobacco, or any other favors. Nor is the 
contractor, his agent or overseer, to laugh, whistle, 
sing, or indulge in any trifling or light conduct, 
harsh, irritating or profane language ; but in all their 
intercourse with convicts, to maintain a grave and 
dignified deportment, that will repel the thought of 
their approaching them on social and familiar terms. 

Contractors and their agents, as well as officers, 
are not allowed to smoke in th'e prison, nor to read, 
nor have newspapers, books, or writings, about their 



43 

persons or clothes, of which the convicts can, b\ 
any chance, gel possession** 

For the wilful breach of these and other salutar> 
regulations, or repeated negligence in conforming 
thereto, such contractors and overseers forfeit the 
right to be within the prison, ami it is the duty of the 
agent anil keeper to remove them. 

All contracts provide for the strict observance of 
the prison rules on the part of contractors. 

It will be perceived by this view of the subject, 
that the agent ought to be extremely careful to make 
contracts with the most respectable and discreet ci- 
tizens, and not to allow any overseers but of correct 
habits and sound discretion, to enter within the 
walls. Contracts, therefore, cannot be made with 
safety for the employment of convicts, by adverti- 
sing, and accepting the best proposals ; but they 
can be made with much greater advantage, to disci- 
pline at least, by personal negociation. 

Rations, Clothing and Bedding. 

The contracts for the supply of rations are requi- 
red, by law, to be advertised ; sealed proposals to 
be received, and the lowest to be accepted, provided 
good security is given. These contracts are now; 
made annually on the 31st October. 

The rations for each man per day, are as follows : 

10 oz. pork, or 16 oz. beef, 

10 oz. wheat flour, the wheat to be 

ground fine, and not bolted, }■ a ration. 

12 oz. Indian meal, 

£ gill molasses, 



* A law of this state exposes to fine and imprisonment, any deputy or assist- 
ant keeper, or any workman employed in or about the state prison, or any other 
person who shall convey out of or bring into the prison, any letter or writing^or 
iny other Oting vhaUoevtr, without being examined by one of the inspectors, the 
ager^or keeper. ] Rev. Laws, p. 275. 



44 

And 2 qts. rye, 4 qts. salt, } 

4 do. vingear, 1| oz. pepper, V each 100 rations. 

2| bushels potatoes, } 

Salt pork and salt beef must be furnished alter- 
nately, each 3 days, and fresh beef once each week. 
All the articles to be of good quality, and beef and 
pork, such as will pass inspection as prime. 

From these provisions, the convicts are supplied 
in the morning with cold meat, bread, a slice of cold 
hominy, hot potatoes, and a pint of hot rye coffee, 
sweetened with molasses. For dinner, they have 
meat, soup made from the broth, thickened with In- 
dian meal, bread, hot potatoes, and cold water for 
drink. 

Clothing, shoes and blankets, are manufactured by 
the convicts, from materials purchased by the agent, 
except that cotton is purchased in the yarn. Their 
usual dress is a round about coat, vest, and trowsers, 
made of cotton warp and woollen filling, with stripes 
running round the body and limbs ; a cap of the same 
cloth ; leather shoes and knit woollen socks, and 
shirts of cotton, not coloured. Each convict has 
from two to three blankets, made of coarse woollen 
yarn, a yard and an half wide, better than two yards 
in length, which are slightly fulled, and weigh about 
six pounds each. 

Their hammocks are made of imported canvass, 
stretched by cords, and hung by the corners on 
hooks, rather loosely, or stretched tight on long nar- 
row wooden frames, which lie flat at night, and are 
turned up edge-wise during the day. 

The latter allows the body and limbs more free- 
dom, but are more cold in the winter, liable to bed- 
bugs in the summer, and are the most expensive. 
But as many complain that the loose hammocks oc- 
casion pain in the breast and limbs, (especially tai- 
lors, and others of sedentary employment) the fram- 
ed flat hammocks are now principally used. 

The clothing worn by convicts, after being cleans- 
ed, is carefully kept in a room for that purpose, to 



clothe them when they go out ; but there are lew 
kvhose clothes are sufficient for tiiem when dischar- 
ged, and often, the clothes worn in, are so tbul ami 
illed with vermin, that they are born! up. 
The expense of new shoes and clothes for dis- 
I convicts, is no inconsiderable item. 

Number and employment of the convicts, October 
11, 1887, with the amount o( the earnings of each 
ihop during that month, averaged on each man per 
lay. The earnings oi' all the shops during the year 
Hiding 31st October, 1S27, and also the probable 
earnings and expenditures for the current year : 



Cooper's Shop. 

Convicts on contract,! 104 
do. for prison, 2 

Tool Shop. 

Convicts on contract, 25 
Shoemaker's Shop. 

Convicts on contract, 1 ^ 
do. for prison, 7 



Total oirnins* for 



Tailor's Shop. 

Convicts on contract, 
do. for prison. 



Wearer's Shop. 

Convicts on contract,|74 
Weaving &, spooling: 



coverlids, 

For prison ; Weavers, 
Spoolers ; 
Spinners. 



127 cts. 

37 " 
33 " 

23 " 

21 " 

139 " ! 



$770 

246 
551 

282 

410 
74 

$2333 



46 



Amount brought forward 
Blacksmith's Shop. 
On contract ; Blacksmiths, 
Machinists, 
Gunsmiths, 
Waiter, 
For prison, 
Turner's Shop. 

On contract at chairs &, 
cabinet work, 
Baskets & axe helves 
For prison 




u 4 



48cts, 



30 



335 



123 



55 



$279228 



05 



Total number of convicts on contract, including 
coverlid and carpet weavers, 358 — averaging 29 
cents per day, each man. Employed in the shops 
for prison, 53. 

The above statement exhibits a tolerably accurate 
view of the business and earnings of the prison. 
The month of October, 'however, has one more la- 
boring day than most others. 

The earnings of the cooper's shop are assumed at 
the above amount, being an average of 4 months ; 
the other shops are truly exhibited for that month. 
It is proper to observe, that no deduction is made 
from the earnings for shop expenses, which are much 
the greatest in the cooper's shop, of any other ; nor 
is there any allowance made for apprentices, who 
vary in number and earnings in the different shops, 
and who, from the frequent discharge of convicts, 
constitute a large portion of the whole number. 

The convicts engaged in making carpenter's and 
joiner's tools, the weavers, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, 
and those making cotton machinery in the turning 
shop, are employed by the day ; and all the rest, by 
the piece or article, at specified prices. Different 
descriptions of men are put at different kinds of bu- 



47 

siness, and at different prices. For instance ; about 
30 invalid, old, and broken down convicts, are em- 
ployed as spoolers on the weaving contract, at 15 
cents per day ; while the machinists, and some oth- 
ers, are contracted at 50 cents per day. 

On the said 3 1st October, besides the 41] convicts 
at work in the shops on contract, and lor the prison ; 
there were 90 others, (besides 14 females) employ- 
ed at building, and as cooks, washers, wood-sawers, 
whitewashes, scrubbers, waiters, Sic. &lc. In this 
number are also included a lew sick convicts. 

Since the time above mentioned, considerable ad- 
ditions have been made to the number in the shops, 
from those employed during the season in building, 
arid from new comers ; but the former will be taken 
out in the spring, to be employed again in building. 
Several new temporary contracts have lately been 
made, by way of experiment : One for carriage mak- 
ing, one for house joinering, and dressing and po- 
lishing a tine grey limestone for fire-places, and ano- 
ther for making combs. The last is already com- 
menced, and the two former will commence the first 
of January. 

The earnings of all the shops during the year 
ending the 31st October last, without making deduc- 
tions for shop expenses, amount to $28,234 04. If 
the earnings of the shops during the year, had avera- 
ged as much as the last month, as above stated, they 
would have amounted to $33,504 ; and it is proba- 
bly safe to state the earnings of the present year at 
that sum. The only other source of revenue is de- 
rived from visiters ; and being fluctuating and uncer- 
tain, no very safe calculation can be founded upon it. 
and it may be left to provide against any error in the 
above estimates. 

The probable expenditures of the year, commen- 
cing the first of November last, may be stated as fol- 
lows : 



48 

Agent and keeper, #1000 00 

Deputy keeper, 600 00 

Clerk, 550 00 

Chaplain, 200 00 

Physician, 500 00 

18 assistant keepers, at #450, 8100 00 

Sergeant of the guard, , . 300 00 

9 guard, at #216, 1962 00 

#13,212 00 

Materials for bedding & cloth- 
ing for an average of 550 
convicts, #5500 00 

Provisions for an average of 

550 men, at 5jc. per ration, 10439 00 

Hospital stores, ; 500 00 

Shop expenses for tools, &c. 800 00 

Firewood, 1200 cords at lis. 1650 00 

Stationary, lamp oil, soap and 
brooms, postage, hay and 
oats, &c 1000 00 

Stoves, knives and forks, 
spoons, cooking kettles, 
chalk, paints, whitewash 
brushes, and various other 
articles for use of the prison 
generally, which are placed 
under the head of prison, 1403 00 21,292 00 

#34,504 00 

This amount of #34,504, exceeds the amount of 
probable earnings during the same period, #1000. 
We have surplus funds on hand, from which to pro- 
vide for this excess ; and feel a confident assurance, 
that such will be the continued increase of earnings, 
that no further appropriation will ever be neces- 
sary for the support of convicts in this prison, unless 
in case of some unforeseen calamity, against which 
no foresight or prudence can guard. 



19 

It will be observed] however, thai the above esti 
mates do not include the expense of transporting 
convicts from the places of conviction to the prison, 
their expenses, when discharged, nor provide for al- 
terations or repairs of building. 

The two first items are no more a legitimate 
dnurge for supporting convicts, than the officer's 
fees for apprehending, of the district attorney's for 
trj ing them, or any other charge they may occasion 
the public, when at huge. The expense of building 
rest^ on different ground ; but the most sanguine 
economist never dreamed of making public criminals 
pay \'w their support, and for prisons to confine 
them. It is, therefore, proposed to have the law so 
altered, as to pay sheriffs for transporting convicts, 
directly from the state treasury, and that the legisla- 
ture provide annually a small fund, to keep the pri- 
son buildings and appurtenances in repair, and to pay 
to discharged convicts their expenses to the places 
of their conviction. 

It is highly gratifying to believe that the period 
has arrived, when state criminals can be made to 
support tKemselves while enduring the sentence of 
the law, and at the same time be subjected to a 
course of moral and reformatory discipline. 

Of discharging Convicts, and the measures used to 
ascertain something of their former life, character, 
habits, 8(X. §'c. 

The present agent, very soon after his appoint- 
ment, adopted the following practice in relation to 
convicts at the time of their discharge. His object 
in so doing, was, by coming to a knowledge of their 
early history, habits, and course of life, to collect 
tacts, which might be of service in discovering the 
causes and tracing the progress of crime ; and he 
chose this particular season, because, during the pe- 
riod of their confinement, the convicts have so ma- 
in- motives for concealment, that the same reliance 
7 



50 

could not be placed on the statements they might 
make. 

Every convict who is discharged, after he is shav- 
ed, dressed in citizen's clothes, receives the money 
allowed him by the state, realizes that he is entirely 
free from restraint, and his feelings and affections 
warmed by the joys of freedom, is asked into the 
agent's office, where the agent or chaplain, or both, 
enter into a free and friendly conversation with him, 
and endeavor, by a desultory course of enquiry, to 
arrive at a knowledge of his former history ; how he 
was bred up ; what means of literary, moral and re- 
ligious instruction he has enjoyed ; what has been 
his customary employment ; where he has resided ; 
what early temptations to crime, by being exposed 
to bad company or bad example, he has encounter- 
ed ; his general habits, predominant passions, and 
prevailing vices. 

This course has been carefully pursued with one 
hundred and seventy-eight convicts, since the prac- 
tice was adopted; and it is confidently believed, 
that after making all due allowances, a body of facts 
may be thus collected, which cannot fail to be useful 
to the philanthropist and statesman, and valuable to 
the public. 

Thus far, our examinations most powerfully con- 
firm the belief, that ignorance and intemperance are 
the two great causes of crime. The crimes of the 
young convicts can, in numerous instances, be tra- 
ced to ignorance, as will appear in the account given 
of our Sabbath school ; while intemperance rarely 
fails to have a great agency in the crimes of older 
convicts, among whom is a certain class of good 
talents and education, who have been respectable in 
life, but from loss of property and various other 
domestic misfortunes, have fallen into habits of in- 
temperance, and from thence into crime. 

After the above enquiries are finished, the con- 
vict is interrogated in relation to his confinement ; 
in what respects he has endured the most suffering, 



o 

and what effect it has had upon his feelings and 
\ <vs ol amendment ; how he lias been treated ; 
\ e it is his purpose to go, and in what business 

• 

it is pretty generally agreed, that being deprived 
oi all intelligence o( their friends, the affairs of the 

world, and the means of intercourse and conversa- 
tion with each other, occasions them more suffering, 
and tends more to humble and reform them, than 
every thing else without these ; that they are neces- 
sarily driver, to reflection, and communion with their 
own hearts, at their meals, in their shops, their soli- 
tary cells, and through all the unvarying routine of 
their labor and rest. Many state, that they suffer the 
keenest pangs of conscience, and the most killing 
mortification in reviewing their past lives, and in re- 
flecting upon the degradation to which they have re- 
duced themselves ; the disgrace, suffering and ruin 
they have brought upon those to whom they are al- 
lied by kindred and affection, and of whose condi- 
tion and fate, their ignorance has kept them in a 
constant agony of suspense ; and that they have 
firmly resolved to live a virtuous life, if they should 
survive their imprisonment. 

By information derived from these convicts, who 
are frequently going out, the agent is enabled to as- 
certain important facts in relation to the character 
and practices of other convicts, which he might not 
otherwise discover. 

They generally admit, that the desire to converse 
is so great, and the temptation to it so strong, that 
the convicts will run the hazard of speaking to each 
other, whenever they think there is any probable 
chance of escaping detection ; but that such is the 
vigilance of their keepers, generally, that scarcely 
any thing can be said, and never so as to carry on a 
connected discourse, or to concert conspiracies or 
rebellion. It is not an uncommon thing for a con- 
vict, when discharged, to state, that he did not know 
the names of his fellow-convicts, who had for months 



52 

worked by his side, and who had lodged in ad' 
joining cells. 

Much the greater portion of them agree in saying, 
that they have been as kindly treated and have fared 
as well, as their circumstances, as convicts, would 
admit ; and feel grateful to their particular officers, 
to whom they often wish to express their thanks, 
personally, before leaving the prison. Neither the 
chaplain nor agent neglects this interesting occasion 
of affording such admonition and advice as they are 
capable of giving ; and the convicts generally leave 
with their feelings deeply affected. 

These officers also request those individuals to 
write to them when they shall have again settled ; 
and from some of them, they have received very 
gratifying letters. 

Discharged convicts are, in no case, allowed by 
law more than three dollars, which is often entirely 
insufficient to enable them to reach their friends 
without embarrassment. 

Of the whole number thus examined, there were: 

Under the age of 20, 6 

Between 20 and 30, . . 77 

" 30 and 40, 40 

40 and 50, 33 

50 and 60, 15 

60 and 70, 5 

70 and 80, 2 

In regard to education when they came to prison, 
the following will exhibit a very brief outline : 

Decent common education, 115 

Education very poor, 37 

No education, 26 

A great portion of the two latter classes have been 
instructed in the prison Sabbath school, and taught 
to read, and many of them to write and cypher. 

Deprived of parents when young, or left them be- 
fore they were of age, 65. 

More or less intemperate, 87- 






Religious Instruction. 

Vo supply the convicts with regular religious in 
Btruction on the Sabbath, i800 per annum is allow- 
ed by the legislature. This Mim is divided by the 
board of inspectors between three clergymen of dif- 
ferent denominations, whose duty it is to officiate in 
the chapel, alternately, on the Sabbath. The du- 
ties devolving on them, have been regularly and 
faithfully performed ; ami no doubt is entertained, 
that effects, salutary to the convicts and to the insti- 
tution, have resulted from moral and religious in- 
struction thus given. Still it is believed, that the 
above provision is far short of what it ought to be. 
One object in the confinement of convicts, is to se- 
cure society from their depredations ; and so long as 
this confinement continues, this object is, of course, 
secured. But it is well known, that a very great 
proportion o( these men are confined for a limited 
time. 

Another and grand object, then, is to make their 
confinement, as far as possible, the means of their 
reformation ; that when restored to their liberty, 
they may prove honest, industrious and wholesome 
members of society. Whatever, then, will contri- 
bute to this object, should be most industriously 
sought for and applied. 

Public instruction on the Sabbath, is, doubtless, 
one means which should be steadily used : still, the 
course which has heretofore been pursued, is ma- 
nifestly attended with its objections. 

The clergymen who have officiated at the prison, 
have, mostly, had the charge of other congregations. 
Every third Sabbath, they preach a sermon to the 
convicts in the prison, in the morning. They then 
go to their own people, and are generally seen no 
more, until it again devolves on them to preach in the 
chapel. Being thus situated, they cannot, in the 
nature of things, use all those official means for the 
impro^ ement and reformation of thn convicts, which 



54 

they could, were their labors more .devoted to them 
personally. Besides, the convicts themselves, who 
rarely see these men, excepting on the Sabbath, and 
when in the desk, are but too apt to feel that they 
come to preach to them as a mere matter of course, 
and for their wages, and are then gone, feeling no 
further solicitude in their behalf. 

It is conceived there can now be no question, but 
that provision ought to be made for the support of a 
resident chaplain, who shall have the special charge 
of the religious instruction of the convicts, whose du- 
ty it shall be not only to preach to them on the Sab- 
bath, but to improve all the opportunities afforded, 
(and they are many) in giving instruction and coun- 
sel, and performing those religious duties which are 
directly calculated to solemnize the mind and im- 
prove the heart. Among these are, visiting and con- 
versing with them at their cells, and in the hospital ; 
imploring a blessing at their table before they sit 
down to eat ; and in reading the Scriptures, and 
praying with them after they go to their cells at 
night, and before they lie down to sleep. 

In those penitentiaries where the convicts are per- 
mitted, in a greater or less degree, to associate toge- 
ther, and where numbers are congregated at night, 
it is hardly to be expected that any very important 
benefits would result from such a step. But in this 
prison, where no such intercourse is suffered, and 
where, from its construction, from two to three hun- 
dred of the convicts, although confined in separate 
cells, can, when so confined, distinctly hear the read- 
ing of the Scriptures and the prayers which may be 
offered, without a change of position by the person 
so officiating, it is confidently believed that an op- 
portunity is presented to a resident chaplain, to ef- 
fect vastly more than canbe rationally expected from 
the course which has hitherto, until of late, been 
pursued. 

A resident chaplain, possessed of those qualifica- 
tions by which he ought to be distinguished ; having 



55 

a thorough knowledge of mankind ; prudent, linn, 
discreet, and affectionate ; actuated by motives of 
public policy and Christian benevolence ; will very 
readily secure the respect and confidence of a great 
majority of the convicts. Residing with them, and 
visiting their solitary and cheerless abodes, they will 
consider him, especially the young, as their minister, 
their counsellor, their friend. They will be dispo- 
sed to open their hearts to him with freedom : He 
will learn their history ; become acquainted with 
their views and feelings ; and will thereby be ena- 
bled to adapt his instructions and reproofs directly to 
individuals, as their several circumstances may de- 
mand. Secluded as the convicts are from society, 
and debarred from all intercourse with each other, 
their minds seem to be prepared, in a peculiar man* 
ner, to receive salutary impressions ; and when once 
made, having no connection with their fellows, they 
are in a situation very favorable to retaining them. 

Thus circumstanced, a discreet, judicious man 
will know what instructions to give, and in what 
manner he may best apply them. It must be obvi- 
ous, that suitable instructions and reproofs, adminis- 
tered under such circumstances, are calculated to 
produce a more deep and permanent effect, than 
when given in the ordinary way only from the pulpit, 
in general terms, and not adapted to the varied cir- 
cumstances, feelings, dispositions and trials of the 
individuals immediately concerned. 

There are always more or less of the convicts, 
who, by sickness or wounds, are confined to the hos- 
pital. Without a resident chaplain, this class of 
convicts, unless by mere accident, is deprived of the 
privilege of religious instruction. But a resident 
chaplain would feel it to be his duty often to visit 
and converse with them ; to enlighten the ignorant ; 
to alarm the impendent ; to administer consolation to 
the afflicted ; to sit by the beds of the sick and the 
dying ; and by his instructions, admonitions and 
prayers, to do every thing in his power to promote 



56 

their best interests, temporal and eternal. Though 
convicts, they are still accountable and immortal be- 
ings, and deprived as they are, at such trying sea- 
sons, of the sympathies and kind offices of kindred 
and home, they need, in a peculiar manner, some be- 
nevolent and pious friend, to instruct and console 
them. Should they die, the reflection remains, that 
all has been done that humanity and christian chari- 
ty demanded ; should they recover, such a course of 
treatment, unless we greatly mistake, has a power- 
ful and direct tendency to soften the feelings, to 
affect the heart, and to improve the conduct. 

A resident chaplain should, in all cases, and under 
all circumstances, strictly conform to the rules and 
regulations of the institution ; and especially, in not 
furnishing the convicts with forbidden articles or in- 
formation ; or the hopes or promises of aid in procur- 
ing pardons, which would lead to great hypocrisy, 
and tend to insubordination. He should deal plain- 
ly with them ; should dwell, emphatically, upon their 
deep depravity and awful folly in violating the laws 
of God and their country, and sacrificing their own 
best interests ; should convince them of the justice 
of their punishment, awaken remorse in their con- 
sciences, press home upon them their solemn obli- 
gations, make them feel, pungently, the horrors of 
their situation, and by all other means, should endea- 
vor to make them realize the necessity and duty of 
repentance, of amendment, and of a humble and 
strict obedience to all the regulations of the prison. 
This course would tend, powerfully, to make them 
better convicts, and, whenever restored to their li- 
berty, better citizens. 

In confirmation of the opinions and views above 
expressed, we would state, that in the month of No- 
vember, 1825, the Rev. Jared Curtis was employed 
and sent here as a resident chaplain, by the Massa- 
chusetts Prison Discipline Society ; since which 
time he has continued, with ability and zeal, to dis- 
charge the duties before referred to : And although 



prejudices had existed in the minds of some, against 
the expediency or utility of such a step, his know- 
ledge of human nature, correct views of public po- 
licy, the penitentiary system and prison tliseipline, 
with a steady and uniform devotion to his duties, has 
enabled him not only to overcome those prejudices, 
but the favorable results of his labors fully justify 
what i^ said above on this subject 

How long thai valuable Bociety will extend its pa- 
tronage to this institution, is uncertain ; and it is re- 
spectfully submitted, whether the public institutions 
of this state should not, in all respects, be supported 
either by the government, or our own charitable so- 
cieties, without the aid of charity from abroad. 

I am happy to observe, that the opinions of the 
several clergymen who now officiate in our chapel, 
correspond with the general views above expressed, 
in relation to a resident chaplain. One of them sug- 
gested, as the only objection, that convicts, having 
different views of different persuasions, would not 
have their prepossessions gratified, as they can by 
the present mode ; and hence, that preaching might 
not have so favorable an influence on some of 
them. 



Sabbath School Instruction. 

This subject is intimately connected with that of 
•' Religious Instruction ;" and must be felt, by all, 
to be of the utmost importance. 

In the early part of the spring of 1826, measures 
were taken to ascertain the number of convicts who 
were unable to read, or who had received so little 
instruction as to be able to read only by spelling 
most of the words. The number was found to be 
between fifty and sixty, or about one eighth part of 
the whole number. Besides these, there were ma 
ny others, who, though they could read, could not 
write, and were grossly ignorant. Here was exhi- 
8 



58 

bited a striking proof, that ignorance is a fruitful 
source of depravity and crime. 

It may not be uninteresting to remark in this place, 
that of the whole number of convicts in this prison, 
not one is known ever to have been a member of the 
Sabbath school. 

Knowing that in the common course of events, a 
great portion of these ignorant and degraded delin- 
quents would be restored to their liberty, and again 
mingle with society, it was considered to be a so- 
lemn duty to do what could consistently be done, to 
enlighten their minds ; and by instruction, if possi- 
ble, to elevate their views, and make them better 
men, and, eventually, better citizens. 

The only practicable mode to effect this desira- 
ble object, which would accord with their situation, 
and the sentence by which they were confined, was 
judged to be the establishment of a Sabbath school, 
which was opened in the month of May. Fifty of 
that class of convicts, whose ages did not exceed 25 
years, and who were the most ignorant, were select- 
ed and placed in the school. These were divided 
into classes of from 5 to 6, and instructed by stu- 
dents, who benevolently offered their services, be- 
longing to the Theological Seminary in this vil- 
lage. 

During the exercises of the school, in addition to 
learning the scholars to read, great pains have been 
taken to impress upon their minds a deep and 
abiding sense of moral and religious obligation. 

In the month of November of the same year, the 
number of scholars was increased to one hundred. 
About this number have been kept in the school un- 
til the present fall, when 25 additional scholars were 
admitted, so that the present number is about 125. 
These are now instructed by more than 20 teachers 
from the Seminary. One of their number is desig- 
neted as superintendent, having a general oversight 
and superintendence of all the school ; although thfe 
resident chaplain has the charge and direction of 



59 

the whole, and is present when not prevented bj 

other duties. 

The privilege presented these convicts is embra- 
ced with the greatest avidity, and apparent thank- 
fulness. Thou conduct has, with scarcely an ex- 
ception, been good, and their industry and applica- 
tion unremitting ; and it is vety gratih ing to he able 
to state, that their progress has exceeded the most 
sanguine calculation. .Nor is this all : An influence 
of a very salutary nature and tendency, it is believ- 
ed, has been exerted on the minds ol' many of the 
members of this school ; an influence which, it is 
hoped, will be felt through the whole course of their 
lives. 

This article will be concluded with some extracts 
from a printed report of the Sabbath School Union 
for Cayuga county, presented at the annual meeting 
at Auburn, Aug. 8, 1827 : 

u .Mr. B. C. Smith, the superintendent of the Sab- 
hath School in the Auburn Stale Prison, has made a 
report to this board, which we present, hoping that 
it will have a salutary influence." The following are 
extracts \ 

-• In speaking of the progress of the school the 
past year, it is not enough to say that our highest 
expectations are realized ; they are greatly exceed- 
ed. In the case of these convicts, we found fresh 
testimony to the truth of the common remark, that 
ignorance and vice are closely allied. By far the 
greater number of those received into the school, 
have been found incapable of reading intelligibly in 
common reading, and not a few unable to tell one 
letter from another. They have, however, uniform- 
ly manifested the most intense interest in the instruc- 
tions of their teachers, and applied themselves with 
such diligence to their lessons, as to exhibit an im- 
provement, in general highly gratifying, and in some 
instances almost incredible. Few can now be found 
in the school, if we except those recently brought in, 
who cannot read in the Testament with a good de- 



60 

gree of accuracy and readiness ; and never did be- 
ings express more gratitude for their privileges, or 
manifest a deeper sense of obligation, than they do 
to their instructors. 

" Did the limits of this notice admit of it, many 
anecdotes might be related that would be interest- 
ing, as illustrative of the happy influence of intellec- 
tual and moral culture bestowed even upon the most 
abandoned. A single fact may be mentioned, which 
will show what use some of the convicts, at least, 
make of their bibles, and how important it is that 
they have them in their hands, and be able to read 
them. A teacher, having listened to the recitation 
of one of his class as long as he thought the time 
would allow, asked him how much more he had to 
recite, and was answered, ' / believe lean say thirty 
or forty chapters.' This was one, too, who, when he 
entered the school, could scarcely spell out a verse. 
Let it not be supposed, however, that this is given 
as the most striking proof we have of the utility of 
the school. A mass of facts might be presented far 
more decisive. 

" Who, that looks upon ignorance as the mother 
of crime, and regards intellectual light as essential 
to the virtue and happiness of a community, will not 
be glad that even one ray is thrown into this dark 
and 'frightful wilderness of mind?' Who, espe- 
cially, that acknowledges the efficacy of the * sword 
of the spirit,' will not rejoice in view of what the 
' word of God,' thus treasured in their memories, 
maybe the means of accomplishing? 

" It deserves also to be noticed, that besides the in- 
structions ordinarily given in Sunday schools, wri- 
ting and arithmetic are taught in this school. A 
class in each of these branches, was formed by the 
agent, nearly a year since, and put under the in- 
struction of competent teachers found among the 
other convicts. All who are brought into this 
school, as they become proficients in reading, have 
the privilege, in their turn, of passing through these 



(.1 

classes, and ol thus qualifying themselves, as well 
for the ordinar} business oi life, as for gaining ae- 
the lively oracles of (*od, which are able to 
make them w ise unto salvation." 



Reformation of Convicts. 

Ii is Relieved thai von erroneous opinions arc en- 
tertained on this subject; and they, doubtless, have 
arisen chiefly from the failure of success which has 
attended the old mode of discipline, which has 
been practised in prisons without a separation of the 
convicts. 

The frequency and principal cause of re-convic- 
tions in other.prisons, will very forcibly appear from 
the following extracts from the report of the Prison 
Discipline Society, before quoted : 

'• The correctness of these opinions, in relation 
to the evils arising from a crowded state of the 
night-rooms, is supported by a comparative view of 
the penitentiaries in the United States, in regard to 
the re-commitment of convicts, where the night- 
rooms are crowded, and where they are not. 

"In the New-Hampshire penitentiary, the whole 
number of prisoners received from November 23, 
1812, to September 28, 1825, was two hundred and 
fifty-seven ; of whom eleven only were committed a 
second time. 

" Twenty-one have been pardoned ; of whom 
only one has been guilty of a second offence. 

"The number of prisoners, September 22, 1825, 
was sixty-six ; of whom only three were for a se- 
cond offence, and none for a third. 

" In this prison, from two to six are lodged toge- 
ther ; generally, however, not more than two. 

" In Connecticut, of 117 convicts in prison, Feb- 
ruary, 1825, twenty-six were committed for second, 
third, and fourth offences. In the penitentiary in 
New-York city, the number of females in Novem- 
ber. 1825. was sixtv-six ; of whom twenty were 



62 

committed a second time ; six, a third ; two, a fourth, 
and one, a fifth. 

" Here they are lodged ten and twelve in a room. 

" In the State Prison in New- York city, in 1802, 
out of one hundred and ninety-one convicts receiv- 
ed, forty-four were committed a second time, and 
two, a third. 

" The whole number of re-commitments to that 
prison, for a second offence, is four hundred and 
ninety-four; for a third or more offences, sixty- 
one ; and the number pardoned, after having been 
convicted two, three, or more times, is one hundred 
and eight. 

" In this prison, the average number in the night- 
rooms, is twelve. 

" In the Philadelphia penitentiary, the number of 
prisoners, August 24, 1819, was four hundred and 
sixteen; of whom seventy-three had been twice 
convicted ; twenty-five, three times ; seven, four 
times ; and two, five times. 

" In the female department, the number of con- 
victs was sixty-three ; of whom seventeen had been 
convicted twice ; and two, three times. 

" Of the whole number of convicts in this prison, 
from 1810 to 1819, four hundred and nine had been 
convicted twice ; fifty-four, three times ; and two, 
six times. 

" Of four hundred and fifty-one convicts in this 
penitentiary in 1817, one hundred and sixty-two had 
been before committed or pardoned. 

" In this prison, twenty-nine, thirty, and thirty- 
one, are lodged in most of the night-rooms. 

"In the Massachusetts penitentiary, in 1817, out 
of three hundred convicts, then in prison, ninety 
were under commitment for the second, third, or 
fourth time. 

"In this prison, from four to sixteen are lodged 
in each of the night-rooms." 

But in an institution, where effective discipline is 
connected with an effectual separation of the con- 



o.i 

nets; where those convicts ire allowed salutary 
exercise of body and mind, under proper restraints; 
where the ignorant arc instructed, and the intelligent 
subdued; where every privilege, deprivation, ami 
movement tends to produce a moral action upon the 
miiul, and to soften the feelings and affections; 
where the reproofs >aneiions, and consolations of 
religion are daily administered, and especially on the 
Sabbath ; and where the resident chaplain and prin- 
cipal officer habitually vi<it their solitary cells, and 
personally admonish with kindness and pungency; 
what cheerful hopes may not the christian, the phi- 
lanthropist, and the statesman, indulge? 

Let it not be understood that we expect that all, 
or nearly all, who are or may be confined in this 
prison, will be reformed. Such an event can by no 
means be calculated upon by any man in his sober 
senses. There always will be many, who, previous 
to their confinement, had become so hardened in vil- 
lainy, so lost to all that is decent and good, and so 
insensible to moral obligation, that no rational hope 
of their being essentially benefitted, by any course of 
discipline, can be entertained, except what may 
arise from the interposition of a divine agency. 

There will, doubtless, be frequent cases of re- 
conviction ; and those cases will necessarily multi- 
ply, as the number of convicts shall increase, and the 
number of those discharged shall be continually aug- 
menting. 

In every large establishment, there will always be 
a class of convicts, who may be appropriately styled, 
state prison characters. A prison is their element. 
They can, seemingly, breathe no other air. If you 
throw them back upon the world, they are not sa- 
tisfied till they are again in prison. If their sentence 
be short, when it expires, they go out but to be re- 
convicted, and to be returned. So they live, and so 
they die ; and it is from this class that re-convic- 
tions, for the most part, take place, and are to br 
ted. 



64 

It ought not, then, from this circumstance to be 
concluded, that much the greater portion of those 
who are the subjects of the discipline of this prison, 
are not benefitted, and made better men, and fitted 
to be better citizens. We think that facts abun- 
dantly attest, that such a conclusion would be far 
from the truth. Sufficient time, it is true, has not 
yet elapsed, fully to develope the influence of con- 
finement in this prison in reforming the habits and 
dispositions of men ; but enough has appeared to 
promise the most favorable results. 

In the fall of 1826, an effort was made, by circular 
letters directed to postmasters, sheriffs, district attor- 
neys, and other public officers, to ascertain the cha- 
racter and conduct of convicts, who had been dischar- 
ged from this prison, and, withal, the effect which their 
confinement had produced. The result was, that 
information was obtained in relation to 79 ; and the 
accounts received, were forwarded by the inspectors 
to the legislature. 

The same effort has again been made the past 
fall, and on a somewhat larger scale. The number 
in regard to which information has been lately ob- 
tained, is 127. 

This number includes about forty of those who 
were heard from the last year. Reckoning those of 
the last year's list, who have not been heard from 
this season, the whole number in relation to whom 
information has been received, is 160. 

The following table will furnish a very condensed 
but correct view of the result. The names of the 
individuals are withholden. Their initials only are 
given. What is said of character, is, in most cases, 
in the precise words of those from whom the informa- 
tion was derived. Where there is any variation of 
expression, it has been made merely for the sake of 
brevity ; the plain import of the language being, in 
no case designedly varied. The order in which the 
several cases are given, is the same as that in which 
they were received and registered. 



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69 








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71 

01' the numbei contained in die above table, 
which amounts to \tiO, one hundred and twelve are 
described either as decidedl) stead] and industrious, 
and sustaining good characters} or ut\ greatly im- 
proved ; 12, u somewhat reformed ; 2, as not much 
improved ; 4, with respect to whom nothing very 
particular was known, but nothing unfavorable; 2, 
as rather suspicious characters; 2, as deranged; 
and 2r>, as decidedly had, and not at all improved. 

In addition to the foregoing, it is proper to state, 
that there are now in this prison, '29 convicts who 
have, once before, been confined here. Several of 
this number are o\' that cla>> who wore sent to the 
canal, and escaped, and were afterwards convicted 
o\ new offences. A number of others had been old 
offenders, and had been confined in other prisons 
previously i - ntenced to this. 

After all, it i> humbly conceived, that the facts 
disclosed in the foregoing table and statements, are 
of a nature to encourage the hopes and warrant the 
increased exertions of our legislators, and of all who 
feel an interest in the moral improvement and refor- 
mation o( this degraded and unhappy class of our 
fellow beings. 

This article will be closed by the statement of a 
fact, which we wish our legislators and magistrates 
of every grade to look at ; a fact for the contempla- 
tion of Chri>tians of every denomination ; a fact for 
the sober consideration of the whole community, viz. 
that the intemperate use of ardent spirits, more than 
all things else, is the fruitful source of degradation 
and crime, and the most formidable obstacle to re- 
formation. In confirmation of this fact, let it be re- 
marked, that of the number of convicts who have 
been discharged from this prison during the past 
year, amounting to about 80, fifty, at the time of their 
discharge, acknowledged that they had been more 
or less addicted to intemperance, and some to a most 
awful degree. Again we would say, let every lover 
of his country look at this degrading, this alarming 



72 

fact, and consider well, whether something may not 
be done to arrest the progress of this " pestilence 
that walketh in darkness, and wasteth at noon-day," 
and which, in its desolating progress, is perfecting 
the ruins of its hundreds and its thousands ! 



General health of the Convicts. 

This prison has been distinguished for the general 
good health of the convicts. 

During the year 1822, there was an average num- 
ber of between 7 and 8 confined in the hospital, out 
of 220 convicts, and 10 deaths. In the year 1823, 
an average of 9 out of 260 convicts, and 9 deaths. 
In 1824, an average of 10 out of 328, and 2 deaths, 
both by consumption. The physician's report of that 
year, states : 

" That though there has been an increased num- 
ber of convicts reported sick, the number of deaths 
is smaller than any year preceding, and that the rea- 
son is obvious. That there has been an abandon- 
ment of continued solitary confinement. That those 
in the cells who were pardoned last spring and sum- 
mer, were most of them enfeebled, and sickening 
with a consumptive diathesis, that would have be- 
come incurable. 

" That diseases are characterized by the same 
symptoms as those in the adjacent country, and that 
so long as the regulations for cleansing are rigidly 
enforced, there cannot exist, in and about the prison, 
any local or pestilential cause of disease." 

During the year 1825, there was an average of six 
confined to the hospital, out of an average of 386 
convicts, and six deaths. In 1826, the average 
number confined to the hospital, out of the average 
number of 432 convicts, was between 4 and 5, and 
the number of deaths, seven. 

During the year 1827, the average number of hos- 
pital cases has been 4 ; the average number of con- 
victs, 476, and the number of deaths, nine. Fom 



73 

oJ the nine deaths which occurred the past year, re» 
suited from diseases with which the individuals were 
afflicted when they were brought to prison; and the 
same will hold true in relation to a considerable 
proportion oi' the deaths which annually happen 
here. 

In regard U) diseases, they continue such as cha- 
racterize the adjacent country, generally. The fol- 
lowing are the diseases which terminated fatally in 
me years 1826 and 1827 : 
Kb 1826 — inflammation of the lungs,..] 
do. of the stomach, 1 

Dropsy of the heart, 1 

Consumption, 4 

— Total, 7 

In 1827 — Disease of the heart 1 

Rupture of a blood vessel in 

the lungs, 1 

T\ phus fever, 2 

Dysentery 1 

Consumption, -1 

— Total, 9 

The proportion of deaths in this prison, has been 
about one to 2S convicts received ; in Vermont, 
about the same ; in Massachusetts, 1 to 18 ; and in 
the prison at New- York, 1 to 8. 

The striking difference in the number of deaths 
and hospital cases in this prison, in proportion to the 
number of convicts, before and since the abandon- 
ment of unremitted solitary confinement, is a most 
interesting fact. 

It will be observed, that in 1823, with an average 
number of 260 convicts, there was an average of 9 
hospital cases, and 9 deaths ; while in 1827, there 
was an average of -176 convicts, four hospital cases, 
and 9 deaths, five only of which were occasioned by 
diseases originating in prison. The number of 
deaths, however, does not so correctly indicate the 
general state of health in the prison, as the average 
10 



74 

number of convicts confined to the hospital ; and 
the contrast in this respect, between the years 1823 
and 1827, is too great to be accounted for, except 
from the effects of constant solitary confinement. 

Without some explanation, the rapid increase of 
convicts in this prison, might lead to an erroneous 
conclusion in regard to the increase of crime. 

Soon after the building of this prison commenced, 
a few counties were designated by law to send to it 
their convicts ; and from time to time, as the build- 
ing advanced, additional territory was added to this 
prison district, until it embraced three fourths of the 
population of the whole state, and which is now the 
case. 

Before we conclude this article, it may be proper 
to mention, that the convicts here are strictly prohi- 
bited the use of ardent spirits and tobacco, except 
as a medicine ; and, contrary to a very common but 
fallacious notion, that the confirmed drunkard cannot, 
at once, break off from the use of spirits without 
danger to his health, it has been invariably found 
that they have never suffered in this respect from 
sudden and entire abstinence, but almost as uniform- 
ly their health has been improved. It is true, they 
appear to be very uneasy, and somewhat lost, for a 
few days, and with rather poor appetites ; after 
which, they eat heartily and improve in health and 
appearance. Being deprived of tobacco, occasions 
much more suffering to those who have been in the 
habit of using it, than the loss of ardent spirits to the 
drunkard. There are many who have been confined 
for years, that would cheerfully exchange half their 
rations of food for a moderate allowance of tobacco ; 
yet the want of it rarely affects their health or ap- 
petite. It may further be remarked, in connection 
with the foregoing, that it is no uncommon thing that 
convicts, who are brought here with constitutions en- 
feebled, and carrying about them diseases induced 
by intemperance and irregular habits, in conse- 
quence of the perfectly regular habits, employment 



and diet to wlm-h they are here subjected, and dun 
health materially improved, and in man.3 cases en« 
tireh restored. 



A T IBLE, shewing the number of convicts receiv- 
ed on first conviction, their crimes, terms of sen- 
tence, ages, places of nativity, employment, the 
number of deaths, pardons, <Scc. 

The whole number of convicts received •"> l st Dec. 
1^7, 121 l; the first received in kpril, 1817. 

Places of Nativity. 



New- York im; 

Connecticut, |33 

Massachusetts 122 

Vermont, 75 

Pennsylvania W 

New-Jersey, 3S 

\. \\ -Hampshire, . . 39 

Rhode-Island, 31 

Maine 9 

.Maryland, 7 

Virginia, 8 

Kentuckv, 5 

JN T . Carolina, 3 



S. Carolina, 

Ireland 

England 

Germany, 

Canada, 

Nova Scotia, 

Scotland, 


110 

40 

13 

24 

8 

9 




s 


Wales, 


9 


Delaware, 

Washington, D. C. 


2 
3 



1214 



Ages. 



15 to 20 122 

20 to 30, 593 

30 to 40, 280 

40 to 50, 139 



50 to 60, 56 

60 to 80, 24 

1214 



Crimes. 



Grand Larceny,. . . 5 13 
Passing counterfeit 

money, 140 

Forger)*, 133 

Burglary, 59 

Perjurv, 51 



Breaking gaol, .... 44 
Petit larceny, 2d 

offence, 65 

Assault and batte- 
ry, with intent to 
rape 31 



76 



Assault and battery, 

with intent to kill, 34 

Manslaughter, .... 26 

Arson, 20 

Rape, 23 

Bigamy, 17 

Swindling, 10 

Murder, (1) 7 

Pardoned, 443 

Discharged by expi- 
ration of sentence, 149 

Negroes, 52 

Indians, 16 



Felony, (2) '. 8 

Kidnapping, 2 

Sodomy, 1 

Attempt to poison, 2 

Robbery, 3 



Deaths,. ....... i , 

Escaped, (3) ..., 



White females, . . 
Negro females, . 



1214 

50 
, 23 

, II 

17 



Occupations when convicted. 



Laborers, (4) 790 

Shoemakers, 116 

Carpenters, 61 

Blacksmiths, 56 

Tailors, 26 

Masons, 22 

Clothiers, 18 

Weavers, 18 

Coopers, 20 

Tanners, 13 

Cabinet makers, . . 10 

Painters, 9 

Cotton spinners, . . 2 

Saddlers, 7 

Millwrights, 4 



Hatters, 6 

Printers, (5) 3 

Barbers, 3 

Chandlers, 2 

Wagon makers, ... 2 

Butchers, * . . 4 

Gunsmiths, 2 

Bloomers, 2 

Turners, 2 

Paper maker, .... I 

Tobacconist, .... 1 

Wheelwright, 1 

Miller, 1 

Trunk maker, .... 1 

Sail maker, 1 



(1) In these cases, the punishment of death was commuted by the govern- 
ment, and they were sentenced to imprisonment for life. 

(2) In those cases, the certificates of conviction did not designate the de- 
scription of felony. 

(3) All except two escaped before the prison was completed. 

(4) In the class of laborers are placed all those who have no regular trade, 
viz. farmers, sailors, soldiers, &c. &c. together with a very few merchants, law- 
yers, and physicians. 

(5) One of these had a good classical education, and had fine talents. He 
has been pronounced a first rate scholar in mathematics by two professors, 
whom the agent invited to examine him. His crime was forgery, and he was 
addicted to intemperance. There has been no other convict in this prison, whs 
is known to have been classically educated. 



r, 



Reed maker 

Chair makers 

Silversmith, 

Potter 


1 

3 
1 
1 
1 

ms e/ 

193 

151 

1 

1 

18 

135 

167 

41 

205 

42 

7 


Heat builder, . . 

Plough maker, . 

Distiller 

(Sentence. 

10 years, 

11" 

12 " 


( 
1 
1 






121 ! 


3 \ t ara 
a ' •• 
S " 


Tc, 



1 day, . . . 
1 month, . 

6 « .. 


.. 86 
2 

8 


9 u 


13 " 


2 


3 ' 


14 " 


. .. 43 


1 k 


15 " 


4 


5 w 


Is " 


2 


6 « 


Life, 


.. 103 


v - 
9 « 




1214 



Importance of an easy communication with the Grand 
Canal. 

[f this prison were located on the grand canal, or 
if there were a rail road, or canal, leading to it from 
the prison, it might be rendered a source of consi- 
derable revenue. 

In the neighborhood of the prison, are inexhaus- 
tible quarries of stone, suitable for canal locks, rail 
roads, buildings, hearths, fire-places, &,c. which 
could be worked to great profit in the prison, if 
'here were the above facilities of communication with 
the western canal. 

With such communication, the article of curled 
maple, with which our country abounds, could be 
worked and sent to the city of New- York to great 
advantage ; and also window blinds, sash, and va- 
rious other articles, for the raw material of which 
that city is dependent more or less upon this coun- 
try. 

We work up annually at this prison, one million 
one hundred and twenty-six thousand staves, head- 



78 

ing and hoop-poles, making at least twenty-two hun- 
dred and fifty-two tons freight, most of which must 
be brought from the canal, 1\ miles by land over a 
bad road ; and most of the ware, when manufactur- 
ed, must be taken back in the same way to find a 
market. 

This return freight is as much more bulky, as it is 
less heavy, than the raw material ; making in the 
whole, equal to four thousand five hundred tons. To 
this must be added, five tons of iron and paints, an- 
nually consumed by this branch of business. 

There will be hereafter annually worked into car- 
penter's and joiner's tools, about 75,000 feet of beech 
timber, making 150 tons, producing about 75 tons of 
tools, which are sent to the canal, and thence to 
New- York, Boston, Detroit, and intermediate pla- 
ces. This branch of business will require annually 
about 15 tons of iron. 

The cotton goods, (chiefly bed ticking) which are 
made in prison by more than seventy weavers and 
spoolers, from the yarns, are transported to the New- 
York market, from which place the cotton to make 
them is previously brought. 

Castings, to a large amount, are brought from the 
canal, manufactured into cotton machinery, and then 
transported back to the canal. 

The ordinary wants of the prison occasion consi- 
derable transportation of heavy articles, such as iron, 
glass, stoves, kettles, and various other things ; and 
the time is not distant, when it will become necessa- 
ry to resort to the canal for wood or coal, for fuel, 
and coal for manufacturing iron. 

No experiment has yet been made in this state in 
building a rail road ; and perhaps there is no place 
where one can be made under so favorable circum- 
stances, as between Auburn and the western canal. 
The soil, and uniformity of descent, are highly favo- 
rable, and all the materials, except iron, are found 
on and very near the place of location. 



% 

1'lic expense, in proportion to the direct benefits 
to die state, and the general advantages to commu- 
nity, ii is believed, will be much less than anj othei 
similar work that can be suggested. 

A canal from the < >w a8C0 Lake tO this I iUage, Can 
be made with a moderate expense, ami is already 

contemplated by a private company ; and when uni- 
ted with a rail-way extending to the grand canal, will 
make a chain of easy communication noarl\ thirtj 
miles into the heart of a rich country, abounding 
with important resources ami hydraulic privileges. 

Of solitary confinement at the Auburn Prison, and its 
effects. 

The south hall of this prison was built much upon 
the old plan, with halls on one side, and large rooms 
adjoining on the other. 

The attic story was thrown into one room, and al- 
so the upper story at the west end, now used as a 
chapel. The wash-room, kitchen and mess-room, 
were made in the basement story. There were a 
few small rooms, calculated for two convicts. 

In April, 1819, and before the building of the 
other half of the prison was commenced, the legisla- 
ture authorised the inspectors "to alter or change 
the interior plan originally adopted, so far as to ren- 
der the same more suitable for confining each priso- 
ner in a separate cell." 

In pursuance of this authority, the then agent com- 
menced building and nearly completed the north 
tront, upon the new plan of solitary cells, but before 
finished, it \va» tired by some of the convicts, and 
pretty much destroyed; for the rebuilding of which. 
an appropriation of S2o,000 was granted by the le- 
gislature. 

Such was the state of the prison, when, in 1821, 
the present board of inspectors, (the present agent 
being a member) was appointed. This board ap- 
pointed a new agent. 



w 

The legislature passed an act, April 2d, 1821, di- 
recting the inspectors to select a class of convicts to 
be composed of the oldest and most heinous offend- 
ers, and confine them constantly in solitary cells. At 
this period, the legislature and public at large had 
become so dissatisfied and discouraged with the ex- 
isting mode and effects of penitentiary punishments, 
that it was generally believed, that unless a severer 
system was adopted, the old sanguinary criminal 
code must be restored. In dread of such a result, 
the legislature ordered the experiment of exclusive 
solitude, without labor, and it is now believed, that 
in avoiding one extreme, another was fallen into. 

In pursuance of this law, after a sufficient number 
of cells were completed, on the 25th December, 
1821, there were selected eighty convicts, and put 
into solitary cells. 

These convicts were kept remote from the rest, 
and where visiters were not allowed to go, but 
where an officer remained day and night, as well to 
guard against the possibility of mischief or accident, 
as to enforce a perfect silence in the cells. 

They were not allowed to speak, except to the 
chaplain, and to inform the officer they were sick ; 
on which, the physician was sent to examine them, 
and, if necessary, they were removed to the hospi- 
tal ; other convicts brought their food to their cell 
doors, under the eye of an officer, and carried away 
what was necessary. Great care was taken, by 
whitewashing and cleansing* to keep their cells and 
clothing pure and wholesome, and they were pre- 
vented from lying down in the day time. 

For a considerable time, we had great confidence 
in the success of this experiment. 

In April, 1822, an act was passed, directing the 
inspectors to report to the justices of the supreme 
court, a list of all the convicts then in solitary con- 
finement, with their crimes, character and conduct, 
and to state the duration and extent of such confine- 
ment. 



31 

TIm same act required tin- said justices to exa- 
mine said report, and from their own aotes of trial, 
and other information to be furnished, to certify their 
opinion to the executive, as to the propriety of from 
tune 10 time pardoning said convicts. 

This act referred to the act of April 2d, 1821, 
and recited, that the punishment of these convicts, 
bv changing them from labor to solitude, might be 
unduly increased. On the first of August following, 
we made a report in pursuance of said act 

During the year preceding January 1S'2.'), there 
was an average of about ±20 convicts in prison. 
From the physician's report of that year to the in- 
spectors, it app( ars that die average number of sick 
in the hospital wa> between seven and eight. That 
there were ten deaths, seven bj consumption, five of 
which were from among the solitary convicts. The 
physician speaks of convicts coming into the hospi- 
tal from the cells, with difficulty of respiration, pain 
in t the breast, <Scc. and concludes his report as fol- 
lows : M It is a generally received ami acknowledged 
opinion, that sedentary life, no matter in what form, 
disposes to debility, ami consequently to local dis- 
ease. It may be produced in the study or the pri- 
son ; in the nursery and the college ; or in any other 
place where muscular exertion is restrained. If we 
review the mental causes of disease, we shall proba- 
bly find, that sedentary life in the prison, as it calls 
into aid the debilitating passions of melancholy, 
grief, &.c. rapidly hastens the progress of pulmonary 
disease.*' From the order and cleanliness of the 
prison, we have no reason to conclude, that any at- 
mospheric cause reigns within its walls, calculated 
to produce serious disease ; but confinement ope- 
rates upon the existing germ of diseases, and has- 
tens the progress of all those that must have other- 
wise terminated in death. 

It is not known whether the judges of the su- 
preme court acted upon said report made to them, 
or not; but the legislature passed an act, April 15. 
11 



82 

1823, requiring the inspectors to make a similar re- 
port to the governor, and for the same reasons al- 
leged in the said act of April, 1822. 

A report was made to Governor Yates, as direct- 
ed by said act ; and in the summer of 1823, he visit- 
ed the prison, personally examined the solitary con- 
victs ; and, after consulting with the inspectors and 
agent, determined to pardon them all gradually, as 
their names should be sent to him by the inspectors, 
except some whose sentences would soon expire, 
and a few others to be put to labor, and which was 
done accordingly. 

These measures were adopted for two reasons : 
First ; that their punishment was changed, and in- 
creased beyond their sentence. Secondly ; that 
the health and constitutions of those surviving con- 
victs had become alarmingly impaired. 

The said act of April 15, 1823, authorised courts, 
at their discretion, to sentence convicts for second 
offences to solitary confinement, not exceeding two 
years ; but there is not a convict now in the prison 
thus sentenced. 

By the close of the year 1823, the solitary con- 
victs were principally released, and a majority of 
them by pardon, since which, exclusive solitary con- 
finement has been discontinued. 

During the year preceding January 1824, there 
was an average of about 260 convicts, and an aver- 
age number confined in the hospital of about 9, and 
there were 9 deaths. 

The physician's report states, that five of the nine 
were subjects of solitary confinement, and died with 
consumption, accompanied with effusions of water ; 
that a number were pardoned by reason of disease, 
which, by continued confinement, would have termi- 
nated in consumption and death ; states, that some 
cases did so terminate after they were pardoned, 
and that he had learned of others languishing from 
the effect of solitary confinement. 



m 

a number of those convicts became insane while 
in solitude ; one, so desperate, that he sprang from 

his cell when his door was opened, and threw him- 
self from the fourth gallon upon the pavement, 
which nearly killed him, and undoubtedly would 
have destroyed his hie instandy, had not an interven- 
ing stove-pipe broken the force of his fall. Anothei 
heat ami mangled his head againsl the walls o( his 
cell, until he destroyed one of his eyes. Another 
cut the veins in hi- arm with a piece of tin, to bleed 

himself to death. 

Nor was- the effect of this constant confinement 
more favorable to reformation than to mental anil 
bodily health. Of those who survived its shock 
upon their constitutions, twelve have been reconvict- 
ed and returned to the prison, whose average con- 
finement in solitude was about twenty months. It 
is proper to observe, that several convicts, of the so- 
litary class, are still in prison, who were released 
from solitary confinement, and put to labor. 

One of those pardoned, committed a burglary in 
this vicinity the very first night after being released 
from a long confinement, but escaped conviction on 
some technical ground. 

Some others are known to have so conducted as 
to be a terror in their neighborhoods, who have not 
been reconvicted of crimes, and not one instance of 
reformation among that class has been known. 

It is true, that in forming that class, the worst 
men were selected from the best information we had 
of them ; but at that time, there were little more 
than double their number of convicts from whom to 
make the selection, and it cannot be supposed, that 
in near all the cases we judged correctly. The con- 
duct and health of a few other convicts, sentenced 
to solitary confinement by courts, have been much 
like the other class. One deserves to be mention- 
ed. Hiram Maxwell, a man of good talents and 
education, was sentenced, by the court, to three 
Years' solitarv confinement, without labor, in the 



84 

New- York State Prison, and was afterwards brought 
with other convicts, to this prison, from which he 
was discharged in the spring of 1826, by expiration 
of sentence ; when he went out, he was in feeble 
health, but of a fleshy, plethoric habit. He return- 
ed to New-York, where he was brought up, and im- 
mediately engaged in a course of daring villany, 
which he did not long pursue, before he was convic- 
ted, and again sentenced to the New-York prison. 

It is, however, proper to remark, that he had been 
twice before sentenced to the New-York prison. 

These facts will not appear less striking when com- 
pared with the following : There have been received, 
on first conviction, into this prison, twelve hundred 
and fourteen, besides one hundred and thirty, 
brought from the New- York prison, in exchange for 
one hundred taken from here to build the new pri- 
son at Sing- Sing. 

Six hundred and sixteen have been discharged by 
pardon, and by expiration of sentence. From 
among these, there have been thirty-eight returned 
on reconviction, including those from the solitary 
class ; but six of them had previou>ly escaped from 
the grand canal, where they had been placed, with 
sixty-nine others, to labor, by an ill-advised act of 
the legislature. 

None of them, indeed, were ever returned to pri- 
son, except those reconvicted, and a few others who 
were recaptured after their escape, before which 
they had generally concerted extensive plans to co- 
operate with each other in the business of horse- 
stealing, counterfeiting, and other crimes, in the exe- 
cution of which, those reconvictions and recaptures 
took place. This is mentioned, merely to show the 
injurious effect upon reformation, and to account for 
many of the reconvictions above mentioned. There 
have been no convicts sentenced to this prison a 
third time. In view of these facts, it cannot be con- 
sidered singular, that an entire change of opinion 
was wrought on the subject of exclusive solitary 



85 

confinement, without labor. We no* believe thai 
solitude, combined with labor, applied to convicts 
under the rigid discipline of this prison, is much bet- 
ter calculated to achiei e the end in view, and is per- 
haps the best possible middle ground between the 
two extremes of penitentiarj punishment. 

The diversion and exercise arising from labor 
which the convicts now enjoy, are certainly no more 
than is indispensable to mental and bodily health ; 
and their earnings should have some consideration 
with the government. 

There is no doubt that uninterrupted solitude 
tends to sour the feelings, destroy the affections, 
harden the heart, and induce men to cultivate a spi- 
rit 1 1 revenge, or drive them to despair, although 
such may not always be the effect upon martys and 
patriots, whose devotion to liberty or religion may 
sustain their bodies and minds in health and vigor, 
while suffering in a righteous cause. Yet solitude, 
to a certain extent, is indispensable in prison disci- 
pline. A degree of mental anguish and distress. 
may be necessary to humble and reform an offend- 
er ; but carry it too far, and he will become either a 
savage in his temper and feelings, or sink in de- 
spair. 

With all the privileges enjoyed by the convicts in 
this prison, insanity is no uncommon occurrence. 
There are several now more or less insane, who 
uniformly behaved well before their derangement, 
and who have never incurred any corporal punish- 
ment since their confinement. 

We have thus frankly acknowledged, and fully ex- 
posed, a dangerous error, which we believe has been 
fallen into in carrying the doctrine of solitary con- 
finement entirely too far. It is deemed proper to 
add, that a majority of the commissioners, who exa- 
mined this and the New- York prison, and whose re- 
port will be hereafter alluded to, were entirely 
against exclusive solitary confinement without labor, 
on the ground of health, expense, reformation, and 



86 

unnecessary severity, and they give their reasons at 
length, and with great force. 

Of the new State Prison in Philadelphia. 

We copy the following judicious remarks on this 
prison, from the last annual report of the Boston 
Prison Discipline Society, to which shall be added 
such further observations as the subject seems to 
require. 

" This prison is located on elevated ground, 
about 2| miles northwest of the city, and about half 
a mile east of the Schuylkill River. 

" The yard wall, which is built of stone, 30 feet 
high, encloses nearly twelve acres. The building 
for the keeper's house, and the offices of the prison 
government, makes a part of the south wall on each 
side of the centre. The magnificence of this part of 
the prison may be inferred from the fact, that the 
yard wall cost about $200,000. On the centre of the 
yard is erected the observatory, and on seven lines 
diverging from the observatory towards the wall, the 
blocks of cells. The cells are arranged in two rows, 
in seven one story buildings on opposite sides of 
seven passages, extending from the observatory to- 
wards the wall to the ends of the blocks of cells. 
Connected with each cell on the outside, is an exer- 
cising yard. The entrance to the cell is through 
the exercising yard. The place of observation for 
the keeper over the prisoner, is through a small ori- 
fice, opening from the cell into the passage, which 
may be closed at pleasure by the keeper, and which 
is intended to be kept generally shut. The only 
mode of seeing the prisoner while confined in his 
cell, if the doors are shut, is through this orifice. 
When he is let out of his cell into the exercising 
yard, he may be seen, either by opening the door of 
the exercising yard, or by walking on the top of the 
wall over the exercising yard. The wall of the ex- 
ercising yard is so high, that he cannot be seen from 




i;ROrXD VIEW OF THE NEW PRISON IN" PHILADELPHIA. 

The external wall, 30 feet hi £ h, encloses a yard 650 feet square ; E, entrance 
beneath an arch secured bv two gate*, under the centre of the front bidding, 
which foms a part of the south wall : T, B, C. D. F,G, 111, J apartments m £» 
b^dine-u^ed bv the government ol the Pn<on for public ofhces; and by the 
^eTandh'^n.v for , dwelling house; the Hospita. ^J**^**? 
also are in this building : /.. \ . yw£ for the accommodation of the keeper sfemil) 
w.d the Hospital ; \ \ Mage I 9m the arch to the interior yards ; 1, 2,3, 3, 5, &, 
«ac« between fhe blocks of Sella, and between the blocks *&«*£?£**** 
wall. The observa.orv is in the centre; 7, 7 7, are the passages between the 
Tells extending from the observatory towards the external wall; i, i, are the cells 
SffceTEf&d 3 fee! wide ; j. j?are the exercising yards There is a tower a, 
each corner of the yard, and over the centre of the front building. 

Scale 162 1-2/erf to an inch- 



87 

the principal observatory in the centre of the large 
yard, unless the observatory is raised to a heights 
far above that contemplated in the original plan. 

" The entrance to the cell from the exercising 
yard, is secured by double doors, one on each sur- 
face of the wall ; the inner deer ol mated iron, and 
the outer door of plank. The orifice between the 
cell and the passage, which is large enough to admit 
the face of a man, is secured by double doors of 
plank. 

" For ventilation, there are several holes about 
three inches in diameter, near the floor of the cell, 
passing through the wall into the exercising yard, 
and several small angular flues passing off through 

the wall, between the cell and the passage, ahout 10 
feci above the floor. The mode of heating now- 
proposed, is by admitting warm air into each cell 
through a small orifice opening into an air chamber, 
which is to extend the whole length of each passage 
beneath the lloor. Whether the ventilators into the 
exercising yards, and the orifices into the air cham- 
ber, will not open a communication between the pri- 
soners in different cells, can only be told by experi- 
ment. If it should be so, there would be no way to 
prevent communication, except by altering the con- 
struction ; unless a keeper could be placed in each 
air chamber, and in each exercising yard. It would 
require more keepers than prisoners to prevent com- 
munication in this way. Whether it is practicable 
so to construct two cells, or apartments adjoining 
each other, that there cannot possibly be any com- 
munication between two persons confined in them, 
while they are furnished with sufficiently free venti- 
lation, is a point never yet so tested by experience 
within our knowledge, either in prisons or lunatic 
asylums, as to prove the possibility of such a thing. 
It is not done at the lunatic asylum in Charleston, 
and it was not done at the new prison in Philadel- 
phia in April, 1827, for the cells were not eomple- 
ted. 



" If it could be done, the question deserves consi- 
deration, whether it ought to be done ; for the case 
not unfrequently occurs, in a large prison, in which 
a prisoner is taken violently sick. Now if they are 
confined in cells, from which it is impossible for any 
one of them to be heard, even by the person in the 
adjoining room, how shall the keeper know that the 
prisoner demands attention? 

" It is true that there might be pipes extending 
from each cell to the keeper's apartment, so that the 
keeper would know if the prisoner is in distress ; but 
no such thing is proposed. 

" The sentinel in the passage would hear the 
noise of the prisoner, if the doors were kept open ; 
but it is proposed to keep them shut, to prevent the 
prisoners from seeing each other, and hearing each 
other across the passage, so that the sentinel would 
only know the condition of the prisoner when he 
opened the door to look in upon him. The sentinel 
being placed in the air chamber, or in the exercising 
yard, might probably hear the prisoner ; but it is not 
proposed to keep a sentinel in either of these places. 

" As the prison is constructed, it will be difficult 
to know when the prisoner is in distress ; and while 
the sentinel could not hear the prisoner, the priso- 
ners would have a better opportunity to hear each 
other. The sentinel in the passage could not hear 
the conversation of the prisoners through the air 
chamber, because the sound would pass under the 
floor of the passage. 

" And when the prisoners are let out of the cells 
into the exercising yards, the sentinel in the passage 
could not prevent their conversing with each other 
over the walls. Nor is it perceived how conversa- 
tion over the walls of the exercising yards can be 
prevented, if a considerable number are let out of 
the cells into the yards at once. If they should all 
be let out at the same time, it would require a keeper 
probably to every five yards, to prevent conversa- 
tion. And even with this number of keepers, which 



to 

would be fifty, they would labor under many dlsad 
vantages io preventing evil communication. 

•• Phe tops ol the walls of the exercising yards 
are not prepared for the keepers to walk on them : 
and the passages between the cells are so separated 
from the exercising yards, that the keepers, being 
IB th 3, could not easily prevent evil com- 

munication while the prisoners were in the exerci- 
sing yards. 

*• fhe keepers, therefore, would probably tak( 
their stations, either in the exercising yards, or on 
the outside of the wall, while the prisoners were in 
the exercising yards. If they should do this, their 
mean- of preventing conversation would not be 
good. If, to avoid this trouble, only a few prisoners 
should be let out at the same time into the exercising 
yards, and these should be in yards separated from 
each other, it would require a great deal of time from 
a number of keepers to let them all out of their cells 
daily. If it is not done so often as this, the question 
would arise, whether it is expedient to build two 
hundred and fifty exercising yards for two hundred 
ana fifty prisoners. 

" It has been urged in favor of this plan of build- 
ing, that it gives great facilities for inspection; so 
great, that the keeper in the observatory in the cen- 
tre of the large yard, as well as the keepers in the 
lofty towers on the external wall, may overlook the 
whole establishment. It is true that they can see, 
from those points of observation, the roofs of the 
cells, and the tops of the walls of the exercising 
yards ; but it is al>o true, that they cannot see the 
prisoners when they are in their cells, nor while they 
are in the exercising yards, unless the prisoners 
choose to show themselves. From the tower in 
the centre of the south wall, which is one of the 
most lofty, the eye can see no further into the ex- 
ercising yard of the nearest cell than the top of the 
door between the exercising yard and the cell. The 
plan of building, therefore, does not afford great fa 
1-2 



90 

tiiities for inspection, but on the contrary, makes in- 
spection very difficult and expensive, both in regard 
to time and labor. 

" There is a peculiarity in the construction not yet 
mentioned. Each cell is a water closet. From 
what may be seen of similar places, in hospitals, pri- 
sons, and steam-boats, we are apprehensive that this 
part of the design will fail. It will be very expen- 
sive in the construction, and probably will not an- 
swer a good purpose. 

" It is proposed to accomplish the object by cast 
iron pipes, extending under the whole establishment, 
and communicating with every cell. These pipes 
are to be frequently filled with pure water, which 
may be drawn off, in the expectation that the filth 
will be removed in the current. 

" Apartments have often been visited, in which si- 
milar designs have been adopted for the accomplish- 
ment of the same object, but the object was not 
gained. The air could, with the greatest difficulty, 
be inhaled by a person who came from the fresh air. 
It would be well to know, whether this peculiarity in 
the plan will answer the purpose in a few cells, be- 
fore the expense is incurred of extending il to the 
whole establishment. 

" The estimated expense of the whole establish- 
ment, when completed, on the original design, is 
five hundred thousand dollars; and when it is com- 
pleted, it will accommodate only two hundred and 
fifty prisoners. 

" The expense of the new prison in Connecticut, 
for the accommodation of one hundred and thirty-six 
prisoners, was estimated at thirty thousand dollars ; 
and three fourths of the work has already been done 
within the estimate. 

" The objections, then, to this plan of building 
are, the difficulty of preventing the prisoners from 
communicating with each other, either through the 
air chamber, or over the walls of the exercising 
yards ; the impossibility of inspecting the conduct 



i»l 

oi' the prisoners in the cells, or in the exercising 
yards, either from the observatory in the centre oJ 
tin 1 large yard, or from the towers on the external 

wall ; the difficult) of the keeper's knowing it in 

cases oi Budden sickness and distress among the 

prisoners; the filthiness of making every cell a 
water closet; the difficulty of introducing labor 
and of communicating instruction ; and the e\ 
pense* 

" All these objections are against the plan of build- 
ing, even if it be admitted that the principle of soli- 
tary confinement, day and night, is good. If it should 
be found from experience in Philadelphia, as it has 
been (ound by experience in Maine, and at Auburn. 
that the principle is not good, then the plan of build- 
ing would be still more objectionable. 

u If we understand the reason of the present state 
of this establishment, it is this : The legislature ap- 
pointed a committee about eighteen months since to 
examine other prisons, for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing, among other things, whether the plan adopted 
in Philadelphia is good. This committee, consisting 
of Judge King and Doctor Wharton, visited some of 
the prisons in New-England and New- York, and re- 
ported against the new prison, so far as to prevent 
the legislature from making an appropriation in fa- 
vor of it at the last session. The progress of the 
buildings, therefore, in the interior of the yard, is ar- 
rested, except so far as to complete the number of 
cells, (about one hundred) the foundation and walls 
of which had been already built. This is a suffi- 
cient number to use in the first experiment, to try 
the construction, and the principle of solitary con- 
finement day and night. 

" If it should be found that the construction and 
principle are not good, it would remain with the le- 
gislature to decide on what plan the other buildings 
should be erected. 

" In view of the whole matter, the following re- 
mark may not be unimportant. 



92 

" The yard wall is the most lofty, extensive and 
secure in this country, with the exception, perhaps, 
of that at Pittsburg; and, therefore, whatever the 
design of building in the interior, this remains good. 

" If the principle of solitary confinement day End 
night is admitted to be the only correct principle, the 
Philadelphia plan of building is not so favorable to a 
successful application of the principle, as the Au- 
burn, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Sing- Sing, and 
Washington ; because it is more difficult of inspec- 
tion ; more difficult to prevent evil communication ; 
more difficult to know when the prisoners are in dis- 
tress ; more unfavorable to cleanliness ; more diffi- 
cult to communicate instruction, and vastly more ex- 
pensive. 

" If the principle of solitary confinement day and 
night, should be found by experience in Philadel- 
phia, as it has been found in Maine, and at Auburn, 
not good, then the Philadelphia plan of building 
would not answer the purpose, and the other would 
be altogether inconvenient for the introduction of 
productive labor. 

" So much time and expense are necessary in 
constructing the building on the original plan, and 
comparatively so little on the Auburn plan, and it is. 
so uncertain whether the first will answer the pur- 
pose, either in principle or construction, that it is 
not to be lamented that the legislature made no ap- 
propriation at the last session, for the completion of 
the building on the original plan. It is now a favo- 
rable time, and there is a convenient location within 
the yard to erect a building speedily, at a moderate 
expense, near the north wall, and parallel with it, 
containing as many cells as may be necessary, on a 
plan which will answer the best purpose, on either 
the principle of solitary confinement day and nighj, 
or solitary confinement at night, with productive la- 
bor. If the legislature should make provision for 
this variation from the original design, the unuttera- 
ble abominations which are known to exist in Wal- 



93 
nut-street, and the great annual expense, might be 

sooner prew Qted. 

•• This is a question deeply interesting to the 
whole communitj ; and no persona] gratification, oi 

previous bias, or personal friendship, ought to pre- 
vent an] man from giving all the facts in relation to 
se, a candid consideration, and the results, a 
decided and temperate and open declaration." 

Thus much for the opinions and remarks of the 
Board of Managers of the Boston Prison Discipline 
Society. 

There are some other objections to the plan of the 
Philadelphia prison than those above noticed, which 
the public ought to understand, and some of those 
hinted at should be more fully stated. 

It appears that the yard contains about twelvfe 
acres o( ground, on one side of which is the front 
building, and through the basement story of which, 
is an arched way, large enough for a team to pass, 
and, of course, to be secured by a heavy and strong 
gate, the whole building being within the outer walls. 
This building is designed, not only to contain trie 
family of the first officer of the institution, whose 
rooms are lighted through grates of massive iron 
bars, but also to contain the hospital of the sick, on 
one side of the keeper's family, and on the other, 
the female convicts; while the basement story is to 
be occupied as cooking, storage, and washing de- 
partments for the prison ; and the best rear-yards, 
v. and z., must, of necessity, be set apart for the use 
of those departments, leaving little or no accommo- 
dation of that sort for the keeper's family. 

The usual and most convenient approach to and 
egress from the family rooms of the keeper, is 
through a narrow, inconvenient, winding stair-way, 
leading from the arched way to those rooms. 

By these arrangements, the family of the keeper or 
warden, (or by whatever name he may be called) is 
literally subjected to imprisonment ; surrounded by 
impervious walls and immovable grates, and can 



94 

only enjoy the unobstructed light of heaven, by gro- 
ping their way through a passage, better fitted for an 
entrance into a subterranean catacomb than to the 
residence of a civilized and christian family. From 
beneath and in rear, the family is to be regaled with 
the fumes of the prison kitchen, rotting vegetables, 
or whatever stale or nauseous articles may, by care- 
lessness or imposition, find their way to such estab- 
lishments. 

Yet all this is a trifling matter, when compared 
with the horrors of a hospital within the walls of a 
family dwelling, where disease and putrefaction 
spread pestilence through the very air they breathe, 
and where the shrieks of the insane and the groans 
of the dying, are mingled in horrid jargon with the 
shrill yells and curses of abandoned and profligate 
female convicts in adjacent apartments. 

It will, certainly, require rare patriotism in a com- 
petent keeper, thus to expose his family, not only to 
pestilence and death, but to the most demoralizing 
associations, that he may employ his own time and 
talents in the service of his country. 

It is, indeed, too much to expect ; and yet, no 
other motive could induce a suitable officer to take 
that appointment under those circumstances ; for it 
is a clear proposition, that whoever could be sordid 
enough to sacrifice the comfort, health, and moral 
safety of his family, for pecuniary emolument, how- 
ever liberal, would, at least, as readily sacrifice the 
interests of the institution and public, to private spe- 
culation. 

The keeper of a penitentiary must expect to give 
himself up entirely, and exert his best energies, in 
the discharge of his official duties, and must expose 
himself, personally, to unpleasant associations and 
considerable hazard, for which he ought to be libe- 
rally rewarded ; but he ought, at least, to be allow- 
ed the privilege, as well as the means, of providing a 
safe, comfortable, and respectable abode for his wife 
and children, free from the physical and moral con- 



lamination of a prison. It is, therefore, submitted 
with confidence, that no gentleman of requisite ta- 
lents: ami intelligence, of correct \ie\\s ami feelings, 
ami proper elevation of character, will accept that 

office, provided he has a family; although the go- 
vernment of Pennsylvania may, perhaps, avail itself 
o( the talents and services o( some philanthropic 
bachelor. 

There are many matteis of detail, which, in the 
course oi business, will be found, in the aggregate, 
of serious moment, although it is difficult to describe 
them, and would occupy too much space, and too 
far extend these remarks ; but some oi them should 
be noticed. All the food of the prisoners must be 
carried, three times a day, from the kitchen on one 
o\ the 12 acre lot, to the centre; and from 
thence, the earners are to diverge oil' in seven dif- 
ferent directions, and travel down the passages to 
the extremes, unfasten the small windows, put the 
food through them into the cells, take out the dishes 
previously left, and fasten up each window. Allow- 
ing one man to do this service for each block, how 
long would it take him thus to distribute the food, 
collect and return to the kitchen all the empty dish- 
es, and how many times, in the business of each 
meal, would he need to travel the whole extent of 
these passages'? 

In these avenues, fragments of meat and vegeta- 
bles will be dropped, soup will be spilled ; and to 
preserve health, they will need cleansing after every 
meal, especially in warm weather. The distribution 
of food in this way must be very unequal, compared 
with eating at a common table, as at Auburn. 

An equal division of rations is an extremely une- 
qual one, in reference to the various appetites and 
necessities of the convicts; and to adapt each single 
ration to the particular individuals, would be diffi- 
cult, if not impossible. All this menial service will, 
of course, be performed, not by convicts, but by the 
hired servants of the kitchen; and what will pre- 



vent them from communicating with the convicts in 
the cells'? 

If the assistant keepers are required to watch the 
servants, and follow them back and forth, (a service 
not likely to be very scrupulously peformed) the wait- 
ers still could find means to slip in tobacco, spirits, 
letters, &x. from convicts' friends, and associates 
outside, who would readily discover and apply 
means of successful bribery to these prison servants. 

Convicts clothes must be frequently changed, 
and probably passed through the feeding windows ; 
this also will afford the means of furnishing forbid- 
den articles. 

To shave the convicts, a keeper must take a bar- 
ber from the open yard into the exercising yard, and 
thence into each cell ; and all these treble doors to 
each cell must be unfastened and fastened every 
time the convict is approached, to allow him exer- 
cise, to be examined by the physician, to take him 
to the hospital, and for any other similar purpose. 

Prudence would frequently require two or more 
persons to enter a single cell, and always in the 
night time, in cases of emergency. 

Among prisoners, many of whom are always of 
dissipated habits, nothing is more common than sud- 
den sickness from epileptic and other fits, bursting of 
blood vessels, cramps, palsies, &c. Such cases of 
distress cannot be discovered but by mere chance, 
by almost a miracle, before it might be too late. 

And if discovered, whether in the day or night 
times, in sunshine or storms, must be brought from 
the cells through all those doors, and open yards, 
and avenues, and passages, to the hospital in the 
keeper's building. Suppose some unfortunate inva- 
lid should suddenly die in a fit, or from other cause, 
for want of timely notice and relief, what excrucia- 
ting sufferings would such a calamity occasion those 
generous and kind-hearted men, whose feelings re- 
volt at the idea of corporal punishment, however 



97 

much deserved, salutary or trifling, if inflicted on a 
state criminal. 

The quantity o1 hot and cold air, as well as of wa- 
ter that eacti convicl may use, i> to be regulated l>\ 
himself. In cold weather, and being idle, he will 
keep his eell too hot tor health, and will not he apt 
to attend much to ventilation ; it' he does, he will 
most iikel) take all the hot air he can procure, and 
counteract it bv a profusion of cold air from without. 

Should many pursue this course, the general hind 
of heat in the air chambers, will be wasted, which 
will compel others to stop their cold air entirely, 
and prevent ventilation altogether; and then, per- 
haps suffer with cold as well as those who may ha\e 
exhausted the heat; and while many from constitu- 
tion, health, or age, will be less able to bear the cold 
than others. In the same way, a few convicts may 
keep their pipes y>l water constantly running, and 
waste the fountain. 

Without going further into particulars on this 
point, it is a sufficient objection, that the convicts 
have any power or control over the safety and com- 
fort of the rest, even though it may affect them- 
selves ; for there w ill always be some who will ex- 
ercise such power for mischievous purposes. 

If these extensive air chambers should answer the 
designed purpose, and yet any accident should hap- 
pen in cold weather, what could be done with the 
convicts during the time of repairs 1 

It is understood that stripes are not to be tolera- 
ted under any circumstances, and that diet is to be 
the principal, if not only means, of enforcing disci- 
pline ; or, in other words, the convicts are, from mo- 
tives of humanity, to be starved into submission. 

If some worthless, brutish vagabond, (and there 
will be many such) should refuse to keep clean his 
person or his cell, sink into a listless, lethargic state 
of mind, and lie contented in filth, he must be starv- 
ed into cleanliness. If one of the grave governors, 
when opening the cell windows for purposes of ad- 
13 



9S 

vice or inspection, should receive a blow, or the 
contents of a ivash-bowl in his face — poor fellow ! 
he would say, you shall be deprived of your regular 
meals ; you must be starved for this ! 

If, in a fit of passion, he breaks his dishes, tears to 
pieces his clothes, cries murder, or, in yells, utters 
curses and blasphemies, he must be subdued by a 
systematic and regular course of starvation ! 

If he should make an attack on a keeper, when 
giving him a morning airing, he must forthwith be 
put up again for starving ; when a half dozen strokes 
of a cat on his bare back, without in the slightest de- 
gree breaking the skin, or drawing blood, would re- 
duce the wretch to humble submission, and proba- 
bly prevent a recurrence of such conduct ; yet it 
would be intolerable cruelty, barbarism, too horrid 
to be endured, repugnant to the spirit of the age, 
and the mild principles of our government. 

But not so with the slow torture of starvation, after 
a raving demoniac convict has spent the force of his 
rage upon the object of his hatred. He may be 
doomed to pinching hunger, till the skin cleaves to 
his bones, his eyes may sink back into their sockets, 
his limbs become paralyzed, and tongue too feeble 
to utter the curses he feels ; and his haggard coun- 
tenance and tottering frame indicate a ruined con- 
stitution, or some fatal disease that is to terminate 
his life. All this, humanity will sanction, the spirit 
of the age and the mild principles of our government 
approve. Js it possible, that the departed spirit of 
the immortal Penn can look down with complacency 
upon a system like this? It is astonishing to observe 
into what inconsistencies, prejudices will drive good 
men; and into none more glaring than in regard to 
punishing criminals. 

It is not unfrequently the case in prisons, where 
labor is followed, that a convict, for an offence, when 
half a dozen lashes would send him penitent and 
humble to his work, is put into a loathsome dungeon, 
an iron collar fastened from his neck to the wall. 



99 

huge shackles put on his legs, and then supplied 
with a Bcantj pittance of bread and water. There 
certainty would be some difficulty in proving, by ab- 
stract reasoning, or by philosophical principles, that 
it i> so infinitely worse to inflict pain upon a person's 
hack, than upon his neck or legs, or even that more 
nameless part which suffers from hunger. 

But it is said that punishment by stripes is liable 
to abuse* This is true; and it is as true, that the 
other modes of punishment are also equally liable to 
abuse. When this subject shall be examined, free 
from the improper influence of preconceived no- 
lions candor will pronounce that punishment to be 
the most humane, wise ami just, which will best cor- 
rect and reform the transgressor, with the least suf- 
fering and loss of time, as it respects himself, and 
the most immediate and salutary terror to others; 
whether that punishment be inflicted by stripes, 
chains, dungeous, or starvation ; and experience, 
uninfluenced by prejudice, will soon make a proper 
choice. 

Bold as the remark may appear to some, yet, upon 
mature reflection, it is deliberately made and believ- 
ed, that there are individual convicts now in this 
prison, who have suffered more from a single in- 
stance of dungeon, chain and diet punishment, when 
some of them were in the New-York prison, and 
others in that in Walnut-street, than to have endur- 
ed the aggregate of all the punishment inflicted upon 
five hundred convicts in the Auburn prison for three 
months ; and for the correctness of this, an appeal 
is made, with some confidence, to two of the worthy- 
gentlemen who are commissioners for building the 
Philadelphia prison, and who have examined the 
Auburn penitentiary. 

With the benefit of inspecting avenues surround- 
ing all the shops, where the unseen eye of a keeper 
can observe every motion of the convicts, and with 
other means of inspection, and where none but vi- 
gilant and discreet assistant keepers are employed. 



100 

punishment at the Auburn prison has become of 
rare occurrence ; the certainty and promptitude of 
its infliction almost destroys its necessity. 

Desirous of making some observations,^ the ex- 
pense and reformatory tendency of the two prisons, 
and not wishing to extend these remarks to a tire- 
some length, no more will be said at this time upon 
the matters above noticed. 

First : Of expense. Between five and six hun- 
dred convicts will hereafter be supported at the Au- 
burn prison, without any public expense, except the 
use of buildings and repairs. 

It is proposed (as was stated by one of the com- 
missioners above alluded to) that the officers, and 
their salaries, at the Philadelphia prison, be as fol- 
lows : 

Five inspectors, without compensation. 

Warden, salary, $2000 00 

Agent, " 1500 00 

Clerk, " 1000 00 

Treasurer, " 500 00 

Matron, " 200 00 

Physician, " 500 00 

7 assist, keepers at $700 each, 4900 00 

4 cooks, at $200, 800 00 

4 washers, " 800 00 

Suppose convicts' clothing and bedding (all of 
which is to be purchased ready made) to cost $20 
annually per man ; 250 convicts would amount to 
$5000. 

The provisions, at an allowance of 8 cents for each 
man, per day, would amount annually to $7300. 

Add to this, say for fuel, lights, stationary, kitchen 
and cell furniture, soap, combs, razors, hospital 
stores, and other charges and expenses not stated, 
$10 per man, would amount annually to $2500. 

Amounting, in the whole, to $25,000, or $100 for 
each convict. 

These estimates may not prove specifically cor- 
rect ; but it is believed that the total expense is not 



101 

stated too high. At this rate, the expense of sup- 
porting the convicts, now imprisoned in Philadel< 
phis and Pittsburg, would not nurj uucfa from 
£100,000 annually, besides the interest of one mil- 
linn of dollars to be expended for buildings ; and the 
friends of this system cannot hope, thai its reforma- 
tory influence will more than balance the increase of 
crime from the increase of population, in that great 

and growing state. 

Secondly : Of reformatory tendency. 

It is believed, the contrast between the two pri- 
sons will prove equally striking on this subject, as on 
that oi expense. 

For facts in relation to reformed convicts of the 
luburn prison, reference i> made to another article 
in this report, and also to one on the effects of un- 
remitting solitude, as formerly practised in this pri- 
son. 

In addition to those articles, some general re- 
marks must suffice. 

It is only the juvenile class of convicts from which 
any great hopes o( reformation can, with prudence, 
be entertained ; and such few others as have fallen 
victims to the arts and designs of practised rogues, 
rather than taken the lead in crime ; together, per- 
haps, with some others, where misfortune and strong 
temptation have combined to overcome their moral 
; nor can there be much hope of any of these 
ren, unless free from established habits of intem- 
■ee. 

Extravagant, indeed, must be the expectation, un- 
der any system, of reforming, to any great extent, 
habitual drunkards, or professional villains, of middle 
age, though instances may occur. 

Now let us look for a moment at the probable 
< omparative effects of the Philadelphia and Auburn 
-vstems, without any reference to what experience 
has proved in favor of the latter. 

To make the matter perfectly simple and palpa- 
let ns takr an individual from th*> first mention- 



102 

ed class, and follow him from his first confinement, 
until his release, through a servitude under each sys- 
tem, and then see in which case he is most likely to 
live a reformed life. 

Suppose, then, the case of a young man, who has 
grown up in ignorance ; destitute of any useful 
friends ; not only without moral or religious culture, 
but under the influence of bad example and wicked 
company, till his perceptions, inclinations, and con- 
duct shall be decidedly vicious. 

He has no just notions of social, relative or reli- 
gious obligations, commits crime, and is brought to 
the Auburn prison. He is carefully instructed in the 
plain and simple duties of a convict, and duly admo- 
nished of the consequences of disobedience ; and* 
perhaps, for the first time fully realizes that he must 
yield himself, unreservedly, to the will of others. 
Then, humble and sad, he is put to some useful 
trade, of which he becomes a ready learner ; is kept 
free from all possible moral contamination from his 
associates ; labors in silence through the day, and at 
night retires to solitary repose. During these alter- 
nate changes of rest and labor, which keep up a 
healthy action of mind and body, sustaining the 
strength and firmness of both, he learns submission, 
temperance, self-denial, sobriety, and industry, 
which will, of necessity, become so habitual, as must 
naturally have an influence on his future life and con- 
duct. He is taught to read, and a sufficient know- 
ledge of writing and arithmetic, to enable him to 
transact ordinary business. On the Sabbath, he at- 
tends divine service, hears a public discourse, which 
exhibits to his view the principles of our holy reli- 
gion, which his rivetted attention enables him to car- 
ry in his mind, and ponder over in his cell, where 
no diversions can lessen the effect of serious impres- 
sions, and with no companion but his bible, which, 
like a faithful friend, reasons with him, " of right- 
eousness, temperance, and a judgment to come." 



LOS 

The chaplain and keeper will, occasionally, visit 
him there; the former, to apply, personally, and to 
illustrate more fully, those great moral and religious 

truths and obligations, which have been advanced in 
public service ; and the latter, to shew an interest 
in his welfare, encourage him in well-doing, and to 
see that all reasonable wants are supplied. 

After a series of years, according to the nature of 
his offence, this individual, after a long course of 
moral and religious instruction, under the most fa- 
vorable circumstances for proving salutary, and after 
having obtained a decent education, acquired the 
most regular habits, and learned a mechanical trade, 
the exercise of which will ensure him a competen- 
cy, and guard him against the temptations of want, 
goes forth again into the world. 

.Vow take the same individual, and incarcerate 
him in a cell, if you please, for half the period, and 
there let him lie, like a beast in the stall, during the 
term of his sentence, without any knowledge of a 
trade, letters, morals, or religion; where his consti- 
tution will become unpaired, and his mind rendered 
more savage, if not destroyed ; his feelings more 
callous, his passions more inflamed, and his temper 
more implacable ; and he goes forth into society, 
feeling like an Ishmaelite, with " his hand against 
every man," and believing " the hand of every man 
to be against him." Let the unprejudiced judgment 
of candor decide, in which case the unfortunate in- 
dividual will be most likely to become a wholesome 
member of society. 

It would be found no very difficult task to trace 
out the origin of personal opinions in Pennsylvania, 
and elsewhere, in favor of the exclusive solitary 
confinement of state criminals : And if the friends 
of this cruel and inefficacious punishment, would 
subdue feelings highly excited, in support of a favo- 
rite theory, calmly investigate principles and facts ; 
examine the history of criminal punishments, and 
especially under the penitentiary system in this 



104 

country, it is believed they would discover, that 
their doctrine is supported as little by reason as 
experience ; and that it has sprung up entirely 
from the failure of the old ruinous system of social 
punishment, always weakly and often corruptly ex- 
ecuted. In the first place, too sanguine expecta- 
tions were indulged by the founders of the peni- 
tentiary system, which, of itself, must have occa- 
sioned great disappointment. 

The enormous evils of association among con- 
victs, and laxity of discipline, were not foreseen, and 
when realized, were not corrected. 

At length, the famous Walnut-street prison in Phi- 
ladelphia, the state prison in the city of New-York, 
as well as others, became such distinguished semi- 
naries of villany, that public feeling became sicken- 
ed and alarmed. 

The frequent reconviction of convicts ; their abo- 
minable and unrestrained wickedness, whether in or 
out of the prison, in which subordinate officers them- 
selves often participated, and the great public ex- 
pense of these establishments, altogether presented 
so sad a picture, and such a wonderful contrast to 
the sanguine promises of their founders and friends, 
that nothing short of a tremendous reaction of pub- 
lic opinion could follow. 

This, of course, hurried men into an opposite ex- 
treme, without allowing them to stop at a just medi- 
um between the two. 

Exclusive solitary confinement, without labor, 
was then proclaimed as sufficient, not only to reform 
the subjects of it, but whose terrors would subdue 
the evil passions and practices of society at large, 
and create a sort of moral millenium. And it is 
somewhat singular, that those who had been the 
most keenly disappointed in their first experiment, 
became the most sanguine and extravagant support- 
ers of the new doctrine. 

The legislature of New-York ordered an experi- 
ment to be made, which, having been sufficiently 



HNS 

tried, (and another ami better mode discovered) it 
is now abandoned, and that, too, do doubt, for ever 

In the experiment made at the Auburn prison, il 
has boon fully established, that l>\ the suitable con- 
struction ol" buildings, and the exercise of proper 
discipline, solitude and labor can be so united, that 
all the evils of the old system maj bo avoided, as 
well as those attending idle solitary confinement, 
and combine all the possible benefits ol both. 

It is this union ol the >olitar\ and labor systems of 
punishment, combining the benefits and excluding 
the evils of both, which was first discovered, and has 
been successfully applied, in the Auburn prison, 
that we so warmly advocate and earnestly desire 
may be made an universal model of imitation, as has 
already been done in Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
and by the general government 

Our feelings on this subject fully respond to those 
expressed by the British minister, Mr. Vaughan, 
who, after a critical examination of this institution, 
declared, in ardent language, that he hoped in God 
it would be made the model of imitation, not only for 
this country, but for all Europe. 

If this union of the two systems had ever occurred 
to the friends of mild punishment in New- York and 
Pennsylvania, it is doubted whether the idea of ex- 
elusive solitude would have been suggested. 

Humanity, not less than public economy, would 
have forbidden it. 

The state of New- York, after realiziug the folly 
of her former opinions, has discovered and applied 
the above remedy ; and it now remains to be seen, 
whether or not the state of Pennsylvania will conde- 
scend to profit by her experience. 

If the numerous and respectable friends of solita- 
ry confinement in that state, would halt in their ca- 
reer of reform, long enough to examine, personally, 
the Auburn system, it is confidently believed, that in 
spite of preconceived opinions, they would perceive 
and sanction its claim to universal support. 
14 



106 

But most of those gentlemen seem impelled for- 
ward by the horrors of the Walnut-street prison, 
without looking to the right hand or to the left, de- 
termined not to stop short of the extreme point of 
unremitted and unrelenting solitude. 

I shall conclude this article with the remarks of 
General La Fayette, who personally inspected the 
new prison in Philadelphia, when visiting that city. 

His observations were made to an American gen- 
tleman when visiting this exalted statesman and phi- 
lanthropist, after his return home from his late visit 
to this country, and are copied from a letter publish- 
ed in the National Gazette of November 11, 1826; 
the editor of which observes, in the same paper, that 
" the statements of General La Fayette respecting 
solitary confinement in penitentiaries, were expressed 
by him with equal emphasis when he was in this 
this country." 

The above mentioned gentleman, in his letter, 
says: " I had a great deal of interesting conversation 
on American topics with the General. He seemed 
to be particularly interested in the subject of the 
Pennsylvania penitentiary, and is, I find, very hostile 
to the system. ' The people of Pennsylvania think,' 
said he, 'that the system of solitary confinement is a 
new idea, a new discovery ; not so : it is only the 
revival of the system of the Bastile. The state of 
Pennsylvania, which has given to the world an ex- 
ample of humanity, and whose code of philanthropy 
has been quoted and canvassed by all Europe, is 
now about to proclaim to the world the inefficacy of 
the system, and to revive and restore the cruel code 
of the most barbarous and unenlightened age.' The 
General then alluded to his sufferings during his 
own solitary confinement in Prussia, and then pro- 
ceeded to say : ' I am told that they, (the convicts in 
the Philadelphia prison) are to be without the least 
employment, and are not to be allowed the use of 
books. Now I was not put into confinement as a 
thief, and I cannot with certainty speak as to the 



effect tiiis system WlH have o\\ them. I was contin- 
ed lor Miv tendency to revolutionary principles; and 
during the whole time of my imprisonment, all my 
thoughts were directed to one single object, and my 
headfuU of plans for revolutionizing Europe So I 
think it will be with the thief; ami when he shall be 
restored to society, it will be with his head lull of 
plan-, concocted ami devised during this singularly 
favorable opportunity. 1 hope m\ friends of Penn- 
sylvania will consider the effect this system had upon 
the poor prisoners of the Bastile. 

" 'I repaired to the scene,' said he, ' on the se- 
cond day o[ the demolition! and found that all the 
prisoners had been deranged by their solitary con- 
finement, except one. He had been a prisoner 
twenty-five years, and was led forth during the 
height of the tumultuous riot of the people, whilst 
engaged in tearing down the building. He looked 
around with amazement, for he had seen nobody for 
that space of time, and before night, he was so affect- 
ed, that he became a confirmed maniac ; from which 
situation he never was recovered.'" 



State Commissioners'' Report. 

In 1824, Stephen Allen, Samuel M. Hopkins, and 
George Tibbits, Esquires, were appointed by the 
legislature to examine this and the New- York pri- 
sons, from whose report to the legislature in January, 
1825, are taken the following extracts: 

"Prison at Auburn. This excellent prison is in 
the large and flourishing village of Auburn ; in a 
healthy and fertile part of the state, and so far, it is 
eligibly located. 

" But it is not conveniently placed for transporta- 
tion, as the Erie canal, which has been made since 
the prison was begun, passes it at the distance of 
seven miles. In common with the New- York pri- 
son, it is without the important advantage of a stone 
quarry, for the employment of the prisoners, which 



108 

we consider a very material circumstance, and whicfei 
will be discussed in another part of this report. 

" The assistant keepers are masters of the respec- 
tive trades at which the convicts, of whom they have 
the care, are employed. Each of them is always 
with his men when they are at work, and he sees 
them taken into and from their cells at night and 
morning. He walks among them in the shop, with 
a stick or rattan in his hand ; keeps them steady at 
their labor ; preserves silence and order ; and com- 
pels them to do their work faithfully and diligently. 
In all those cases where instant correction is neces- 
sary to enforce obedience, or prevent mischief, it is 
administered on the spot ; but, in general, the power 
of suppressing the very beginning of disorder, pre- 
vents any disorder at all ; and in point of fact, while 
the rod of correction in this prison is always at hand, 
its use is seldom resorted to. The presence of the 
rod, for the most part, saves the necessity of using it. 
In two weeks of our examination, we scarcely, saw 
an example. 

" The correct discipline observed in this prison,- 
only requires to be seen to be duly appreciated. 
The orderly conduct of the prisoners while at labor ; 
their meek countenances and sober demeanor ; the 
apparent thankfulness with which they receive their 
coarse meals ; and their quietness under the priva- 
tions of the prison ; all prove, that the discipline is 
complete and effective. 

" The men upon whom the responsibility of the 
safe keeping of the convicts rests, ought to possess 
the authority to punish them, if they neglect or refuse 
to obey the laws of the establishment. 

" For the proper exercise of this power, they are, 
and ought to be, amenable to the laws. But we 
understand it to be a principle of the common law 
of this state, as it certainly is of reason and common 
sense, that every keeper of a prison must have such 
power of personal correction. 



•• rhe condition of a prisoner, is that ofpersoml 
restraint. As the prisoners are siwnys the most nu- 
merous, and have, therefore, the advantage of phy- 
sical force, thej most take the master] whenever 
they think expedient, if there is do power of punish- 
ment ; or when that power is fettered or imperfect, 
their submission will be proportionally incomplete. 

" Upon this method of governing, our opinions are 
entirely decided and unanimous ; and we hesitate 
not to state to the legislature our >ettled conviction, 
that the government o\' felons in a prison must be 
absolute, ami the control over them must bo perfect 
The principal keeper must be a man of firmness, 
discretion, ami vigilance ; ami he ought to be the 
responsible person in all matters relative to the con- 
duct and sate keeping of the prisoners. Without 
this, there can be no discipline nor economy. Eve- 
ry consideration requires this ; the safety of the lives 
of the officers, and of the prisoners themselves, re- 
quires it. It is indispensable to economy, and to 
profitable labor ; and if there can be any hope of re- 
formation, it must not be where the prisoner stands 
upon his rights, and exacts conditions; but where 
he is brought to a sense oi' his degradation, and feels 
the sadness incident to dependence and servitude, 
and becomes willing to receive any indulgence as a 
boon, and instruction, advice, and admonition, as a 
favor. 

•• It is proper to remark, that we have been inform- 
ed of complaints which had been made against the 
officers of the Auburn prison, of too great severity 
of discipline. Some of us took pains to investigate 
the grounds of those complaints, and sought inter- 
views with some respectable persons who had sup- 
ported them, and with some members of a grand ju- 
ry of Cayuga county, before -nhom the subject had 
been brought. In one instance, a convict had called 
out to the prisoners in the mess-room to rise. He 
was instantly struck down by the keeper attending, 
and, we believe, struck after he was down. In no 



110 

case have the grand jury thought proper to interfere, 
though the subject has been more than once before 
them ; and we believe that the corporal punishment 
now inflicted at the Auburn prison, is not more than 
is requisite to preserve proper obedience." 

" That the Auburn prison, combining the construc- 
tion of the prison with the discipline enforced in it, 
presents the following advantages : 

" That the sentence of the law can be enforced 
with almost absolute certainty, since escapes must be 
nearly impossible, and conspiracy quite so ; and an 
attempt at insurrection, therefore, hopeless. 

" Consequently, that the prison is governed with 
great comparative safety to the lives, both of keepers 
and prisoners, which, in cases of insurrection, are 
necessarily in danger. 

" The separate cells by night, and the silence pre- 
served always, entirely prevent all contamination 
among the prisoners ; thus, at once, is excluded the 
great question of the classification of convicts, which 
has so much engaged the attention of benevolent 
men in Europe and America. 

" By this system, every prisoner forms a class by 
himself; and to all moral and social purposes, he is 
insulated. 

" The novice in crime may work for years by the 
side of the most expert felon, without making any 
progress in the mysteries of criminality. 

" The prisoners are compelled to work diligently 
and profitably, and are deterred from spoiling their 
work. 

" That the sentence of the law may be thus cer- 
tainly, safely, and economically executed, without 
leave asked of the prisoners, or favor gained from 
them ; whence all the benefits of an unfettered exe- 
cution of the laws. 

" And we now add, as an important feature of this 
system, that if any human means can, as it were, en- 
force repentance and amendment, it is this. 



Ill 

M The entire separation from all criminal associa- 
tions ; ilu v sobriety of feeling consequent upon tem- 
perance ami labor; ami most oi all, the sadness of 
solitude, must frequently make serious impression-. 
We bare seen manifest proofs of such impressions 
among the prisoners, and only wish there was rea- 
son to expert they would be permanent. 

" From the observations already made, it has ap- 
peared, that with respect to the laboring prisoners, 
the discipline and government oi the Auburn prison, 
with the exception of unremitted solitary confine- 
ment in a cell, unites most of the qualities which we 
have recommended in a state prison. Time and ex- 
perience may suggest further improvements in mat- 
utn of detail"; but we do not expect to see any thing 
more perfect than the general system of that prison, 
nor do we know what more can be reasonably look- 
ed for." 

Prison Discipline Society, Boston. 

iety, bearing the above title, which explains 
its object, has been formed by many of the most dis- 
tinguished gentlemen in the state of Massachusetts. 

The benevolent exertions of this society have al- 
ready effected much good, and promise still greater 
benefits to mankind. 

With a view to a full developement of the evils 
existing in the public prisons of this country, and to 
be instrumental in discovering and applying a reme- 
dy for those evils, one of the most intelligent and 
benevolent members of this society visited, and cri- 
tically examined, all the penitentiaries, and many 
county gaols, in the Atlantic States. 

From materials thus collected, the board of mana- 
gers, at their annual meeting of the society, in June, 
1826, made a report, the value of which may, in 
some measure, be inferred from the fact, that it has 
already passed through three editions of numerous 
copies. 



112 

It is thought that it may be useful to extract so 
much of this report, as will show the opinions of the 
board of managers in regard to the construction, dis- 
cipline, and regulations of this prison, by which a re- 
markable coincidence of views and opinions will ap- 
pear to have been entertained by that board and our 
state commissioners, in relation to this institution. 
The following are extracts from said report : 

" It has been represented in Europe, that the soli- 
tary cells in the prison at Auburn, New-York, are 
dark dungeons, such as that humanity would shud- 
der to see persons confined in them. 

" This is an important mistake in point of fact. Out 
of five hundred and fifty-five cells, only a few are 
dark, and these are seldom used. All the others are 
lighted sufficiently to enable the convicts to read the 
small print in their bible, with which they are furnish' 
ed by a law of the state. 

" For a prison securing the important advantages 
required, we recommend the plan exhibited in this 
engraving. It represents a building designed to con- 
tain four hundred cells, on the plan of the north wing 
of the prison at Auburn, in the state of New- York. 
Retaining the same principle of building, it may be 
enlarged for a penitentiary, or diminished for a 
gaol. 

" The external wall, in the first figure, is two hun- 
dred and six feet long, forty-six feet wide, and three 
feet thick. In this wall are three rows of windows, 
which are four feet by six, except the lower row, 
which are four feet square. These windows are 
glazed, and secured by a strong grating of iron. 
They are sufficiently large and numerous to afford 
perfect ventilation, and light to the cells. 

" The ground view in the second figure exhibits 
the foundation of the cells, and the open area around 
them. The centre is a solid wall, two feet in thick- 
ness, on each side of which the cells are arran- 
ged. 




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11J 

"The walls between the cells are one foot in thick* 
ness; those between the cells and tin- open area, 
which are broken by the doors, are two feet. The 
cells are seven feet long, seven feet high, and three 
and a half feet wide. 'Ehe only opening from th( 
cell, except the ventilators is the door, in the upper 
end oi which is an iron grate, about eighteen bj 
twenty inches. The bars of this grate are round 
iron, three fourths of an inch in diameter, placed 
about two inches asunder, leaving orifices smaller 
than a man's hand. 

M Through this grate, all the light, heat, and air, 
are admitted to the cells; The ventilator, which is 
about three inches in diameter, extends from the 
back of the cell to the roof oi the building. Tin- 
door of the cell, oi' which the grate is a part, closes 
on the inner edge oi the wall, leaving a recess be- 
tween the door and the outer edge of the wall, two 
feet deep. This recess, in front of each door, in- 
creases the difficulty of conversation between the 
prisoners ; prevents them from making signs to each 
other, or from seeing far to the right or left on the 
galleries ; and furnishes a convenient place for an 
officer of the prison to converse with the prisoner, 
without being seen or heard by those in the adjoin- 
ing cells. The fastening of the door is by a strong 
latch, connected by a hook, with a bar of iron placed 
over it. The bar extends from a latch two feet hori- 
zontally to the outer edge of the w all ; thence at a 
right angle eighteen inches horizontally to the lock, 
which is beyond the reach of the prisoner, three 
and a half feet from the door. The area around the 
cells, which is ten feet wide, is open from the ground 
to the roof, in front of five stories of cells. Of this 
area, three feet adjoining the cells is occupied by the 
galleries. A convenient hospital may be formed in 
this building, by dispensing with the partition walls 
between four cells in the upper story. 

" The breast-work of cells, in the third figure, ex- 
hibits all the cells on either side of the centre wall : 
15 



114 

that is, half the cells in the building, together wife 
the galleries and stair-cases. The advantages of' 
this mode of building, (besides that of solitary con- 
finement) are, its security and economy. The secu- 
rity is fourfold ; for the prisoner must first escape 
from his cell ; then avoid the sentinel in the open 
area, who has every advantage for seeing him j then 
force the external wall ; and after all, he is in the 
yard. The security is such, that during two* years 
in which the men have been confined at night in 
these cells at Auburn, no breach has been made 
upon one of them. 

M The economy is great in regard to the space oc- 
cupied, and also in heating, lighting, and guarding. 
Four hundred cells will cover only 206 by 46 feet of 
ground. At Auburn, five small stoves,f and six 
large, and twelve small lamps, placed in the open 
area in front of the cells, beyond the reach of the 
prisoners, afford heat and light for five hundred and 
fifty-five cells ; and one sentinel is found sufficient 
to guard four hundred prisoners, and cut off commu- 
nication between them. The space in front of the 
cells is a perfect sounding gallery, so that a sentinel 
in the open area on the ground, can hear a whisper 
from a distant cell in the upper story. This experi- 
ment has been tried again and again in the presence 
of the person furnishing this description. A build- 
ing, in which these important advantages are secur- 
ed with so much economy, is great gain. 

" At Auburn, stripes are almost the only mode of 
punishment ; in Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
New-York city, Charleston, and Concord, solitary 
confinement mostly, with a small allowance of bread 
and water ; in Connecticut, stripes, chains, solitary 
confinement, and severe hunger. 



* Itis now six years since the convicts have been confined at night in these 
cells. 

+ This number of stoves was found insufficient, and seven more have been 
added, with stove-pipe encircling the whole block. 



•■ It the efficacy oi these different modes of pun- 
ishment were to be judged of by the discipline of 
the respective institutions, punishment by stripes, as 
at Auburn, wo«ld be preferred. The difference in 
the order, industry, ami subdued feelings, as exhibi- 
ted by the prisoners, is greatly in favor of the prison 
at Auburn. 

" This difference, however, is to be attributed, 
not so much to the mode of punishment, as to the 
separation of the comicts at Bight, and several other 
salutary regulations, which are not adopted else- 
where. 

"Governor Clinton has formerly expressed his 
opinion of the importance of solitary confinement ; 
and in his late message to the legislature, he ex- 
presses an opinion concerning the institution in New- 
York city, for the reformation of juvenile delinquents, 
which is constructed on the plan of the building at 
Auburn, that it is probably the best prison in the 
world. 

" At Auburn, we have a beautiful example of what 
may be done, by proper discipline, in a prison well 
constructed. 

" It is not possible to describe the pleasure which 
we feel in contemplating this noble institution, af- 
ter wadiDg through the fraud, and material, and mo- 
ral filth, of many prisons. VVe regard it as a model 
worthv of the world's imitation. 

" The whole establishment, from the gate to the 
sewer, is a specimen of neatness. The unremitted 
industry, the entire subordination and subdued feel- 
ing of the convicts, have probably no parallel among 
an equal number of criminals. 

" In their solitary cells they spend the night, with 
no other book but the bible ; and at sun-rise, they 
proceed, in military order, under the eye of their 
keeper,. in solid columns, with the lock march, to 
their workshops ; thence, in the same order, at the 
hour of breakfast, to the common hall, where they 
partake of their wholesome and frugal meal in si- 



116 

knee. Not even a whisper is heard ; though the si- 
lence is such, that a whisper might be heard through 
the whole apartment. 

" From one end of the shops to the other, it is the 
testimony of many witnesses, that they have passed 
more than three hundred convicts, without seeing 
one leave his work, or turn his head to gaze at them. 
There is the most perfect attention to business from 
morning 'till night, interrupted only by the time ne- 
cessary to eat, and never by the fact, that the whole 
body of prisoners have done their tasks, and the time 
is now their own, and they can do what they please. 

" At the close of the day, a little before sunset, 
the work is all laid aside at once, and the convicts 
return in military ordef to the solitary cells, where 
they partake of the frugal meal, which they were per- 
mitted to take from the kitchen, where it was fur- 
nished for them as they returned from the shops. 
After supper, they can, if they choose, read the 
Scriptures undisturbed, and then reflect in silence 
on the errors of their lives. They must not disturb 
their fellow prisoners by even a whisper. The feel- 
ings which the convicts exhibit to their religious 
teacher, as he passes from one cell to another, are 
generally subdued feelings. 

" Sometimes, however, a man is found who har- 
dens his heart, and exhibits his obduracy even here ; 
but the cases are comparatively few. The want of 
decorum, of which the commissioners of the state 
of New- York complain, in their visit to the city pri- 
son, where they were met by the bold staring of the 
prisoners, after they left their work, to gaze at them, 
and by looks, whether in smiles or in frowns, which 
indicated an unsubdued and audacious spirit in the 
culprits. This is never seen at Auburn. The men 
attend to their business from the rising to the setting 
sun, and spend the night in solitude. 

" Under these circumstances, they are provided 
with the word of God ; and they also receive the un- 
divided attention of a most wise and faithful reli- 



117 

gious teacher, who spends all his time in the prison, 
visiting the sick, teaching those who cannot read, 
preaching in the chapel on the Sabbath the un- 
sean liable riches of Christ ; and afterwards in going 
from cell to cell, to administer the reproofs and con- 
solations of religion to individuals. The influence 
of the chaplain, according to the testimony of all the 
officers, is most salutarj and powerful ; and the va- 
rious expressions of confidence and affection exhi- 
bited towards him by the convicts, is most cheering 
to himself. 

'• What, then, ought this institution to be that it is 
not ? And how widely different from that in Connec- 
ticut, which the commissioners in their last report 
Bay, '" is all that it ought not to be, and nothing that 
it ought to be |" What could with propriety be done 
for criminals, which is not done at Auburn ? They 
are, from necessity, temperate and frugal in their 
diet ; they are busily employed in some useful bu- 
•~iin's-> from morning 'till night ; they are kept in 
perfect subordination, and provided richly with the 
means of know ledge and of grace, which may make 
'hem wise to salvation. 

" It i< hardly necessary to add, that at Auburn, 
there is an exclusion of all positive evils of the old 
system, which arise from crowded night-rooms, evil 
communication, instruction in all the arts of pick- 
pockets, thieves, incendiaries, and counterfeiters. 

"These great ends are gained, partly by disci- 
pline, and partly by construction. The peculiarities 
of the discipline are, that the men, by a military 
movement, are required to keep the same relative 
position ; as a general thing, they are placed back 
to face ; and they are forbidden all conversation with 
each other. The peculiarity in construction is seen 
in the engraving. 

" With this plan of building, and the system of 
discipline and instruction introduced at Auburn, the 
great evils of the penitentiary system are remedied. 
Here, then, j^ exhibited what Europe and America 



118 

have been long waiting to see, a prison which may 
be made the model of imitation." 

Extracts from Judge Walworth's charge to the jury, 
on the trial of an Assistant Keeper, at the Cayuga 
Oyer and Terminer, September, 1826, for whipping 
a Convict. 

" In summing up the case to the jury, Judge Wal- 
worth commenced by remarking, that the case 
which they were about to decide was of the greatest 
importance ; not, indeed, as it related to the indivi- 
dual accused, but from the effect which their deci- 
sion might have upon one of the most important in- 
stitutions in this country. And he regretted that the 
length of time already consumed in the trial, and the 
lateness of the hour, must, of necessity, confine the 
court to a few remarks only, and would not permit 
him to go so fully into the subject, as the nature and 
extent of the questions involved in this controversy 
actually demanded. That the questions which had 
been discussed before the court and jury, as well by 
the counsel for the prosecution as by the counsel 
on the part of the defendant, deeply affected the 
whole penitentiary system. 

" The Judge then took a general view of the peni- 
tentiary system of this state, and of the necessity of 
rigid prison discipline for the reformation of offend- 
ers, or to restrain the commission of crime. 

" He observed, that imprisonment in the peniten- 
tiary, or state prison, had been adopted in lieu of 
that sanguinary mode of punishment, which was de- 
rived from our English ancestors, and which was still 
considered unavoidable by most civilized nations. 
That by the laws of this state, for many years after 
the revolution, all the crimes now punishable with im- 
prisonment for life, and many which are now punish- 
ed only by imprisonment for a term of years, were 
punished with death for the first offence. 



119 

*' All other felonies above the degree of petit lar- 
ceny, wore, on a first conviction, to be punished by 
fine, imprisonment, whipping, or other corporeal 
punishment, and with death for the second offence. 
That the effect of this system was, that a very great 
proportion of the guilty escaped all punishment what- 
ever. 

" It was found, that jurors would not convict on the 
ordinary evidences of guilt, or where they could find 
the slightest excuse for an acquittal. That even the 
judges, whose feelings revolted against the sanguina- 
ry code of laws, which they were compelled to ad- 
minister, constantly sought some excuse, from de- 
fect of form or otherwise, to save the life of the pri- 
soner. And under such circumstances, if the law 
and the evidence were so perfectly clear, that nei- 
ther court nor jury could prevent a conviction, and 
when the dreadful sentence of death had been pro- 
nounced against the guilty, it was still found that 
the feelings of the community would not suffer it to 
be executed : And there being no other mode of 
punishment devised, an executive pardon set the of- 
fender again at large, to renew his depredations upon 
society. That hence it was, that crimes continued 
to multiply, and offenders, so far from being restrain- 
ed by the terror of capital punishment, were only the 
more encouraged to persevere in their villanies, 
from the well-founded belief, that the nature of the 
threatened punishment was such, that there was little 
or no danger that it ever would be executed. 

" That such was our situation about thirty years 
ago, when that portion of the members of the legis- 
lature, who believed that society had a right to re- 
sort to any means which were necessary to protect 
itself against the wickedness and depravity of its 
worthless members, but whose judgment condemn- 
ed, and whose feelings revolted, against the ineffec- 
tual and bloody code of laws which then existed, 
united with those who doubted the right to inflict 
tal punishment in any ea^e : and adopted the 



120 

penitentiary system, which had ever since been con- 
tinued in this state. That a general prison for the 
state was then directed to be built ; and those of- 
fenders, who were before punishable with death, 
with few exceptions, were doomed to imprisonment 
for life ; and other felonies, for the first offence, 
were punished by imprisonment therein for a term 
of years. That for a short time after the erection 
of the first prison, it seemed to have the desired ef- 
fect ; it was confidently believed, that the hopes of 
the friends of humanity were about to be realized, 
and that capital punishments might be dispensed 
with in all cases short of murder. But it was soon 
found, that this new mode of punishment had lost all 
its terrors ; that it neither restrained the commis- 
sion of crime, or afforded any adequate punishment 
for the guilty ; and that the number of the convicts, 
and the expenses of the institution, were rapidly and 
fearfully increasing. 

"The vile and hardened offender there found 
himself surrounded by most of the comforts and en- 
joyments which he possessed while at large, and that 
his daily task of labor was even less than that of 
most of our enterprising mechanics and farmers; 
and relieved from all the cares of providing for him- 
self or his family, and supported by the hard earn- 
ings of the virtuous part of community, the incorri- 
gible felon had full leisure to concert, with his com- 
panions in infamy, new schemes of mischief, or still 
further to corrupt the minds of those who were not 
so completely hardened in guilt. That the expira- 
tion of sentences, and the necessity of exercising the 
pardoning power to make room for new convicts, 
daily turned loose upon society a gang of hardened 
villains, properly instructed, and fully qualified to 
become master spirits in iniquity : And it was even 
ascertained, that crimes were sometimes committed 
for the express purpose of enabling the offender to 
get back to the state prison, that he might there en- 
joy the comforts of a home, and the society of his 



Ifti 

old companions in vice and infamy* That such was 
the penitential*) system, until a verj few years s ace. 
The once ardent Dopes of the friends of me Bystem 
had nearrj failed; and even those to whose feelings 
the idea of capital punishment was the most revolt- 
ing, feared we should again be compelled to resort to 
the bloody coAc, when the presenl system of prison 
discipline, which had been gradually improving un- 
der tho authority of the legislature, was t Lilly adopt- 
ed by the inspectors o( me Auburn state prison. 

'• llis honor remarked, that confinement with labor 
merely, had no terrors for the guilty. That the la- 
bor which the human body was capable of perform- 
ing^ without endangering its health, was but little 
more than many of the virtuous laboring class of com- 
munity daily and voluntarily performed for the sup- 
port and maintenance of their families. That to 
produce reformation in the guilty, or to restrain the 
vicious from the perpetration of crime by the terrors 
oi punishment, it was absolutely necessary that the 
convict should feel his degraded situation, should 
feel that he was actually doing penance for his wil- 
ful violation of the laws of his country. That he 
must, in his own person, be made to feel the differ- 
ence which should exist between the situation of the 
upright and honest freeman, who labors for his daily 
bread, and the vile and degraded convict, who, by 
fraud or robbery, has deprived that honest freeman, 
or his family, of the hard earned rewards of his in- 
dustry. That mistaken or misapplied sympathy for 
such offenders, was injustice to the virtuous part of 
community. That the system of discipline adopted 
by the inspectors of the prison, under the sanction 
of the laws, was well calculated to have the desired 
effect of reforming the less vicious offenders, and of 
deterring others from the commission of crime, by 
the severity of punishment inflicted, and that, too, in 
the best possible way. A mode of punishment, 
where comparatively little bodily suffering is felt, 
and the greatest severity of the punishment is in- 
16 



122 

flicted upon the culprit, through the medium of the 
mind. That it was, however, through terror of bo- 
dily suffering alone, that the proper effect upon the 
mind of the convict was produced ; and thence the 
necessity of a rigid enforcement of the prison disci- 
pline upon every convict, by the actual infliction of 
bodily suffering, if he would not otherwise submit to 
the rules. 

" That it was impossible for the legislature to 
foresee every case which might arise in the govern- 
ment of such a prison. The punishment was to be 
inflicted on men who had already become expert in 
evading the laws of society. They would soon find 
means to evade any general provisions enacted by 
the legislature for their government while in prison ; 
and it was for that reason the legislature had delega- 
ted to a board of inspectors, in the vicinity of the 
prison, the power of making such regulations as, 
from time to time, they might find necessary. That 
the rules of the prison, which had been referred to 
by the witness, had undoubtedly been adopted by the 
inspectors, under that authority. That these regu- 
lations, if not repugnant to the constitution, or laws 
of the state, had the binding force of a statute ; and 
neither the court or jury had any right to judge of 
their necessity or their expediency ; and the assist- 
ant keeper, under his oath of office, was bound to 
carry them into effect. But, the Judge observed, 
even the regulations made by the inspectors must be 
general, and much discretionary power must still be 
vested in the superintendent and the assistant keep- 
ers, who had the direct and immediate charge of the 
prisoners. Cases must and would constantly occur, 
which did not come within the letter of any written 
law or regulation ; and where it might be necessary 
and proper to enforce obedience on the spot, in or- 
der to carry into effect the sentence of the law, and 
the general principles of the system. But notwith- 
standing these powers were necessary, and although 
the welfare of the state, the peace and happiness of 



123 

ocjety, and the hopes of the friends of our present 
mild code of criminal taw, all depended upon the 
success oi' the present system of discipline, as adopt 9 

ed in the Auburn state prison, it did not follow that 
no abuse of power existed there. That the most 
perfect system must always be carried into effect by 

human BgentS ; and wherever there were such agents, 
the powers entrusted to them were liable to abuse ; 
and that the true question in the case was, whether 
the defendant had gone beyond his powers, or wil- 
fully abused the trust confided to him, as an assist- 
ant keeper of that prison : And his Honor trusted, 
that whatever political or other excitements might 
have existed in this county, in relation to the go- 
vernment of this prison, cither in favor of or against 
its officers, it would not enter into the deliberations 
of the jury in this case, or be found in any manner 
to have contaminated the sanctity of a court of jus- 
tice. That in deciding the questions submitted to 
the jury, it was proper for them to take into consi- 
deration the obvious fact, that the convicts who were 
placed under the government of the keepers, were 
not an ordinary set of men ; and obedience to the 
rules of the prison could not reasonably be expected 
to be enforced upon them, in the same manner that 
obedience to laws is enforced upon others. That 
the idea of inducing such men to submit to the disci- 
pline of the prison, by any hopes of reward or im- 
munity from punishment, must be abandoned as de- 
structive of the whole system of prison discipline, as 
a punishment. That most of thesemen were despa- 
radoes, who had refused to submit to the laws of so- 
ciety ; and many of them were only restrained by 
the fear of immediate death, from taking the lives of 
their keepers. That by their wilful misconduct and 
depravity, they had forfeited all rights, while there, 
but the rights of humanity. That the safety of the 
lives of the officers of the prison required, that the 
convicts should know- they must submit to every re- 
gulation, and to every lawful command, of their keep- 



124 

ers, as to their masters ; and that they should, on no 
account whatsoever, be permitted to treat any of 
their keepers with the least disrespect, especially in 
the presence of other convicts That the welfare 
of society, as well as the reformation of the convicts, 
required that they should feel that they were, in re- 
ality, the slaves of the state. That they should hold 
no communication of any kind with each other, ei- 
ther by word or action. That they should most 
deeply feel the awful degradation and misery, to 
which their vicious courses had reduced them. 
That they should feel that the ordinary sympathies of 
our nature could not be extended to them, consist- 
ently with the welfare of society, and that they must 
not be indulged. These were the laws of the pri- 
son, to which the convict must be made to submit, 
and implicitly to obey ; and this rigid system of dis- 
cipline, the defendant, by his Oath as keeper, was re- 
quired, by all the means in his power, to enforce 
upon the convict. 

" That in the management of this prison, to carry 
into effect the sentence of the law, and the inten- 
tions of the legislature, it was necessary that perfect 
obedience, and submission to the rules of the prison, 
and the orders of the officers, should be enforced ; 
and if the defendant had done nothing more than was 
necessary for that purpose, he was not guilty of any 
offence, and it would be the duty of the jury to ac- 
quit him. That, on the contrary, if they were satis- 
fied from the evidence, that he had been guilty of 
cruelty and oppression towards this convict, which 
was unnecessary and unjustifiable under all the cir- 
cumstances of the case, it would then be their duty 
to find a verdict against him." 



BO 6 6*4 



INDEX. 



Pagt 

\ genera description ofthe prison, with > plate, &c g 

Facility ol inspection, l:; 

Gen ral government ofthe prison. M 

Duties and powers ofthe agent and keeper, 14 

Duty ofthe deputj keep* r, 17 

f the clerk, i« 

- ofthe phj Biciao, 20 

Duties of assistant keepers, 20 

Number and duties ofthe guard, 23 

Duties of convicts, 21 

Shop regulations, '25 

K. .-. bring now convicts, 27 

Opt aing the prison in the morning, 27 

Breakfast, 28 

Ofthe Mi-k. 29 

Clothes tune, 29 

Pinner. • 30 

Closing die prison ;it night, and night duty. 30 

Sunday regulations, 33 

Sundaj breakfast, 34 

Sunday school, 34 

Divine service, 35 

Of assistant keepers' reliefs, 36 

Visiters. 36 

North wing, containing the cells and hospital, 37 

H -j'td, 38 

Kitchen and wash-room department. 39 

Female department. 39 

Receiving yards, 40 

Contracts tor the labor of convicts, duties of contractors, &c. 41 

Rations, clothing and bedding, 43 

Number, employment, and earnings ofthe convicts, &c. &c.« 45 

Probable expenditures for the year 1828, 48 

Of iischarging convicts. «s;c. 49 

_. us instruction, 53 

Sabbath school instruction, 57 

Reformation of convicts, 61 

General health ofthe convicts. 72 

A table, shewing the number of convicts received on first con- 
viction, their crimes, terms of sentence, ages, &c. kc. 75 



126 INDEX. 

Page. 

Importance of an easy communication with the grand canal,- 77 

Of solitary confinement at the Auburn prison, and its effects, 79 

Of the new state prison at Philadelphia, with a plate, 86 

State commissioner's report, 107 

Prison Discipline Society, Boston, and plate, .... Ill 

Extracts from Judge Walworth's charge to the jury, on the 
trial of an assistant keeper, at the Cayuga oyer and ter- 
miner, Sept. 1826, for whipping a convict, . . . • 118 






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